In the mid-1940s, in a Portugal mired in poverty and illiteracy, a group of boys work in the potteries of Alhandra, on the coast, collecting clay to make tiles and bricks. Gineto, Sagui, Malesso, Guedelhas and Gaitinhas form strong friendships and bonds of camaraderie, while dreaming of other places and embarking on liberating adventures, facing the harshness of work, the daily dramas of family life, hunger, abuse and injustice with courage, rebellion and determination. In the end, their unity always prevails in a world of adults who do not understand them.