A flat is up for rent, the owner, Mr. Saramago, receives the various tenant candidates. Each visit to the empty flat is a small story, and behind all this, there is a moving image of the different types of characters that inhabit the city of Lisbon. Each of them is duly identifiable by their little mannerisms, the way they dress or the sort of observations they make. Mr. Saramago eventually rents the flat to a nice, young couple.