Prata Palomares is a product of the "Cinema Novo" movement in Brazil, which sought to create a truly Brazilian approach to filmmaking. In this hallucinogenic, violent film, two guerilla warriors (Itala Nandi and Renato Borghi) appear in the middle of an unknown military skirmish. Their quest is to return to military headquarters. Along the way, they see a young man drinking blood gathered from the shrine of the Bleeding Virgin; he then shoots and attempts to eat a buzzard, and then meets an incarnation of the Bleeding Virgin who is being tortured and disfigured. When they see a priest killed, one of the twosome seeks to take his place and meets the same fate. The survivor then boards a boat which will probably take him to his destination.