As seamstresses, the orphaned sisters Emília and Luzia dos Santos know how to cut, how to mend, and how to conceal. These are useful skills in the backcountry of Brazil, where vigilantes called cangaceiros make the rules. Emília dreams of falling in love and escaping to the city. Luzia also longs to escape their little town, where residents view her deformed arm with suspicion.

But when Luzia is abducted by a group of cangaceiros led by the infamous Hawk, the sisters’ quiet lives diverge in ways they never imagined. Emília stumbles into a marriage where her glamorous life is soon overshadowed by heartache and loneliness. Luzia, forced to trek through scrubland and endure a nomadic existence, begins to see the cangaceirosas comrades, not criminals.

Luzia will overcome time and distance to entrust her sister with a great secret --- one Emília vows to keep. And when Luzia’s life is threatened, Emília will risk everything to save her.