In a small Portuguese village in the late 60's, a young priest takes the people's side for fighting for better living and working conditions. Following complaints from the industrialist who employs most of the village, the bishop decides to move the priest to another parish. When the people learn of his forced departure, they rebel and unite to prevent the priest from leaving the village.

On one side, a bunch of crooks. On the other, two sisters. Nothing unites them except an idea: to relieve the bank account of an old man, who happens to be the sisters' father. The crooks devise a plan to gain his trust and swindle him. The sisters make plans for the last years of their father's life without neglecting the small detail of the inheritance. Each one in their own way, they all dream of the possibilities that the old man's money could bring them. But this one will not be easy prey.

Oliveira do Hospital, 1995. A scriptwriter looking for inspiration, a failed actor trying to get back into the limelight, and a suitcase of money hidden in a chimney. These are the ingredients of Serpentina, whose characters, while trying to make a film, find themselves in a gangster film from which they do not know how to get out.