Set in a
fishing village of 1950s
Goa during
Portuguese rule in India, the film depicts the ties between Tony, a good-for-nothing man from the city, and Maria, a village fisherwoman who loves him innocently. The spirit of
Christian love and forgiveness lies at the base of the story, and the film has a strong religious colour to it. After losing his vision during a storm, Carlos lives with his sister, Maria, on the
Indian coast in a fishing village. One day a mysterious young woman, Lisa, enters their lives claiming to have been abandoned by her husband, followed by a mysterious man, Tony Fernandes. Maria and Tony fall in love with each other, much to the chagrin of Simon, who loves Maria and wants to marry her. Lisa then warns Maria that she has known Tony, they have had an affair together, and he had betrayed her, however, this warning has no effect on Maria. Then a gypsy palm-reader also cautions Maria that she may be headed for disaster at the hands of a stranger. Tony is actually a gold smuggler plying his trade between Indian ports still under colonial rule, like Goa, he arrived in the village fleeing the
police from
Bombay and in pursuit of Lisa, his former accomplice who betrayed him out of his share. Tony integrates into the village by purchasing fish at fish auctions to covertly recover hidden smuggled gold and manipulates Maria into aiding his gold smuggling operations, planning to betray her by selling her to
Arab traders to settle his debts. The police close in during a climactic chase and Tony abandons Maria at sea in a desperate bid to escape. Maria's unwavering faith and plea for his better nature convince Tony to surrender to authorities as she vows to wait for his return after imprisonment. == Cast ==