Aroeiras is a fictional city in the northeastern interior of Brazil where Genésio lives. Old, widowed, retired and childless, he fills his loneliness drinking and dreaming of the nostalgic heroism of cangaceiros (northeastern outlaws) and the love of Rosália. His friend Baltazar, a peasant leader, does not believe in myths of the past. He believes that organized political struggle is the only possible way to change things and he is looking for new ways to fight the powerful.

During Carnival in Rio de Janeiro a group of men follows the tradition of dressing up as a woman. Only some of them started timidly, a few members of a circle, but the custom has been expanding year by year to become legion. Their wives help them to get the costume, but husbands usually prefer to go to the parade without them.

Filmed as Brazil was transitioning back into a democracy after over two decades of dictatorship, ‘Mulheres: uma outra história’ focuses on various aspects of women's participation in the Brazilian political scene and features interviews with some of the 23 women newly elected to the Constituent Assembly who managed to gain the approval of some of their proposals for the Brazilian Constitution which was being written at the time. The film features appearances from suffragist Carmen Portilho, who reminds viewers about the long history of struggle for women to earn the right to vote in the country, and Jandira Feghali and Benedita da Silva who would become some of the most influential political leaders in the country’s history.