​Vila Flávia, São Paulo inner city. The graffiti walls show an authority figure: the black mother protecting her children. Three families marked by the absence of a father: Nêgo has the portrait of Dona Edith tattooed on his chest. Fernando tattooed a Virgin Mary on his back in honor of his mother, Dona Vera. Barão has been serving his sentence for eigth years and endures the pain of making his mother, Dona Fatima, suffer. In fatherless homes, in the slum forsaken by the State, the lonely mother acquires the aura of a saintly warrior.​