O Retrato ("The Portrait") is a portrait in flashback of Rodrigo Terra Cambará, a fictional member of the real government of Getúlio Vargas, as a young man. Dr. Rodrigo arrives to his home town of Santa Fé after studying Medicine in Porto Alegre. Initially, he contrasts with his family: his brother Toribio and his father Licurgo are countryside men while Rodrigo listens to operas, reads magazines from Paris, and drinks champagne. Ultimately, however, as he takes his first steps in politics, he exhibits many of the personality traits and vices that will follow him for life.