During the 1943 Carnival in Bahia, Vadinho, a womanizer and inveterate gambler, dies suddenly. His wife, Dona Flor, is inconsolable, for despite his many flaws, he was an excellent lover. Some time later, she marries Teodoro Madureira, a pharmacist who is the opposite of her first husband. Together, they have a stable and quiet life, but it's dull, until the day Vadinho's ghost appears in Dona Flor's bed.