Helen is a 9-year-old girl living in a “cortiço” in Bixiga – famous neighborhood in the city of São Paulo, known for having a large concentration of migrants: first Italians, then Brazilians from the northeastern of the country and now Haitians.
Born in a poor and unstructured family, the girl lives with her grandmother, Dona Maria, who also fulfills the role of mother and father. The matriarch supports the family through informal work.
Between the streets plays, school classes and a little help with home duties for her grandma, Helen lives intensely the neighborhood life, walking freely around and participating of the various traditional local events. Still very naive, she spends the days oblivious to the harshness of her reality and her main concern is to raise money to buy a gift for grandma: a complete makeup kit.
