Claudia on her escape from the husband, the violent Geraldo, loses possession of her daughter, Maria Carolina, who is under the care of her impatient aunt, Elisa, who maintains the girl in an orphanage. Maria Carolina ends up running away from the orphanage and hiding in the small and fictitious village of Jardim das Flores, and, among jokes with little friends there, she hides in the house of Mr. Mazurgsky, Uncle Ze, a kindly old man who enchants the little girl, whom he affectionately calls "Laleska."