Set in São Paulo, the plot of Rainha da Sucata portrays the universe of the new rich and the decadent elite of São Paulo, opposing two female characters, the emerging Maria do Carmo Pereira (Regina Duarte) and the bankrupt socialite Laurinha Figueroa (Glória Menezes). Maria do Carmo enriches herself with her father's business, the junkyard salesman Onofre (Lima Duarte), and becomes a successful businesswoman, but maintains the habits of her humble past. In love with Edu Figueroa (Tony Ramos), a bon vivant that had despised and humiliated her in her youth, she decides to “buy him”: she proposes to marry him to help his family, of traditional origin, but on the verge of bankruptcy. After the wedding Maria do Carmo starts to live a nightmare because of Laurinha. Married to Betinho (Paulo Gracindo), Edu's father, the socialite is obsessed with her stepson and goes out of her way to win him over.