The film is an eccentric but impassioned allegory about fear in Brazil affecting a boy named Tito who loves helping his scientist dadRufus with his inventions ; the latest involving a machine that can understandbird songs which break down thus resulting in separation. Years later, the fear epidemic is spreading and Tito must resist it relying on his friends Sarah and Buiú to find a cure for his father and his research for his machine before it's too late.