Leléu Antônio da Anunciação (Selton Mello) is a con man who travels through small Brazilian towns, scamming the people and sleeping with the townswomen.
When he makes the mistake of sleeping with the wife of a hit man's and is caught, Leléu barely gets away with his life. Quickly, he moves on to another town, Vitória de Santo Antão, where he meets and falls in love, for the first time, with Lisbela (Débora Falabella). The daughter of the Police Chief, Lisbela is a sweet girl who enjoys watching movies and usually relates life to the world of films.
Leléu has many problems to juggle: The hit-man, Frederic Evandro (Marco Nanini), also known as the Candlelighter, is hot on his trail to kill him; Frederic's wife, Inaura (Virginia Cavendish), claims to be in love with him and has followed him; and Lisbela is engaged to be married to someone else.
Some scenes are a little too much, too over the top, but overall Lisbela e o Prisioneiro (Lisbela and the Prisoner) is enjoyable.