The arrival of the West Indian Companies to Natal in the XVII century is just the beginning of this violent story that pushes Bernarda and her family to run away from the city and from the invasion. In the Potengi Mill she meets the foreman's son Rafael and they immediately discover a passionate love. It will give them the force to try to survive during those violent years triggered by Jacob Rabbí, a German assigned by Prince John Maurice of Nassau to command the conquest.