Aracy de Carvalho is a young clerk at the Brazilian consulate in Hamburg. For two years now, she has been secretly issuing passports to Jews without the dreaded "J" stamp, which will not only prevent them from traveling but condemn them to the horrors of the concentration camps. In this way, the Carvalho manages to save the lives of many people. When newly appointed diplomat João Guimarães Rosa arrives in Hamburg, she confides in him and the two fall madly in love.