André, a teenager, lives in an industrial town in Brazil near an old aluminum factory. One day, a factory worker, Cristiano, suffers an accident. Asked to go to Cristiano’s house to pick up clothes and documents, André stumbles on a notebook, and it’s here that Araby begins — or, rather, transforms. As André reads from the journal entries, we are plunged into Cristiano’s life, into stories of his wanderings, adventures, and loves.

Juninho, Menor, Neguinho, Adilson and Eldo are young residents of the Bairro Nacional, outskirts of Contagem, in Minas Gerais, Brazil. Divided between work and fun, crime and hope, each will have to find ways of overcoming difficulties and taming the tiger inside their veins.