本片围绕着四个角色进行。晚上离开妻儿出门的卢悉奥(Luisinho)和刚结束一段感情生活的纳尔逊(Nelson)驾驶着汽车四处寻乐,以此打发晚上的空虚和无聊。几经周折之后他们找了两名三陪女子回到房间。整个夜晚四个人之间的关系不断发生微妙变化。该片前75分钟全部为夜景,配以略带诡异感觉的钢琴曲,整部作品偏现代。
　　沃尔特·雨果·克霍里(Walter Hugo Khouri)(1929.10.21-2003.6.27)号称是巴西电影界的伯格曼，《空洞的夜》（1964）《燃烧的躯体》（1966）和《好色之徒》（1968）是他的人性三部曲，在他的影片中充满着存在主义的疑问、角色复杂内心的独白和现代主义的电影语言。本片是向安东尼奥尼《蚀》的致敬之作，入围了1965年法国戛纳电影节，是一部精致的巴西新浪潮艺术电影。

　　科兹鲁克（克兹佐夫·马扎克 Krzysztof Majchrzak 饰）是一名平凡的农夫，每天过着循规蹈矩的生活。一天，村里来了一名美丽的女教师海德琦亚（Anna Seniuk 饰），原来，政府为了能够普及教育，打算在村里建造一间小学。海德琦亚的与众不同瞬间就吸引了科兹鲁克的注意，更糟的是，村长将海德琦亚安排到了科兹鲁克家暂住，这让科兹鲁克整天都生活在想入非非之中。
　　海德琦亚和村里的邮递员交往甚密，这让科兹鲁克感到非常的不是滋味，嫉妒如同火焰一般灼烧着他的内心。几个月之后，海德琦亚决定返回城里，此时的她已经和当地的居民们结下了深厚的友谊，所有人都舍不得她，其中也包括科兹鲁克。

　　13岁的艾米（安娜·帕奎因 Anna Paquin 饰）在一场交通事故中失去了母亲，只好被送到与母亲离异多年的父亲（杰夫·丹尼尔斯 Jeff Daniels 饰）身边。父亲经营着一座农场，整日琢磨各种稀奇古怪的发明，面对已经长大的艾米难免不知所措，二人最初的相处生疏而隔阂。艾米收拾好丧母之痛，也努力适应农场生活，一日在一片树丛发现一窝被遗弃的大雁蛋，她小心将它们捧回家里，并成功孵出一窝小雁，但是出于政府野雁不可以家养的规定，艾米必须要令这些小雁放归自然。父亲想出了奇妙的主意帮助艾米，他动手为她制作了一架滑翔机，让她带着小雁学会飞翔，然后在迁徙季节一路护送“雁妈妈”艾米带领小雁们飞向安大略湖，在这个过程中，一对父女的心也开始紧紧连在一起……

　　在三十年后的今天，我依然对母亲难以忘怀。故乡冲永良部岛的美丽风景令人眷恋，回到这里，过去的一切又开始复苏——我们一家人离开贫瘠的鹿儿岛来到了这里，当时母亲三十岁，我是小学两年级学生。在这个岛上，祖父、母亲和我三人开始了贫穷而温暖的生活。每天我放学回家，母亲总是笑着迎接我。我非常渴望母亲的拥抱。然而母亲因为怕把自己身上的病传染给我，所以从来不碰我。当台风到来的时候，大海咆哮，岛上没了粮食，家里连灯油也买不起，只能在黑暗中静静入眠。在一年一度的敬老宴上，岛上的村民们惠尽情喝酒跳舞直到天明。母亲的舞姿在篝火的映衬下，显得格外美丽。然而有一天，母亲突然过世离我而去……

　　Min Ji-suk runs a "ticket bar"where customers can purchase tickets for certain "services"in the town of Sokcho in Gangwon-do. She hires Miss Yang (Ahn So-young), Miss Hong (Lee Hye-young), and Se-young (Jeon Se-young) through the employment agency. Miss Yang and Miss Hong, who are well experienced in this type of business, are used to accepting propositions from customers. But Se-young, who is dating a college student named Min-su, rejects all requests for sexual favors. When Min-su professes to having problems with his tuition and finances, Se-young reassures him that she will procure the necessary funds for him. When the bar's clientele begins to dwindle because of Se-young, Ji-suk reprimands her severely. Se-young develops a close relationship with a Captain Pak and even allows him to sleep with her. She asks Captain Pak to find Min-su employment on a boat, but when Min-su comes to Sokcho for his new job, he sees how Se-young has been making her living. Shocked, he turns his back on the job and leaves. When he eventually returns to Sokcho, he scathingly denounces Se-young's morality and severs their relationship. Decades ago, Ji-suk had stumbled into the bar business in a desperate effort to support her husband, who was serving time in prison; she later left him voluntarily out of shame and moral degradation. Concerned that Se-young will end up with the same fate, Ji-suk asks Min-su to meet with her. She begs him not to abandon Se-young, but he flatly refuses. Ji-suk reacts by pushing Min-su into the sea, and suffers a mental breakdown that lands her in a psychiatric institution.

　　A woman and her daughter are in love with the same man, a chef at the restaurant that the mother manages. He is slightly crippled from frostbite in his years in Siberian labor camps and considers himself “already dead.”