A geologist discovers gold on a remote hill in the Amazonian state of Pará, sparking the chaotic Serra Pelada rush, the largest manual gold rush of the 20th century. Over 100,000 independent prospectors ('garimpeiros') rush to the site, carving out a massive open pit by hand and carrying heavy sacks of earth up steep mud cliffs in hazardous conditions. The mine becomes a crowded, violent hive of human labor, famously documented by photographer Sebastião Salgado, before rising water levels and mercury contamination force the military government to close the site.

The raw, biblical imagery of Serra Pelada leaves a distinct mark on late 20th-century Brazilian literature and popular culture. Poets and songwriters compose verses detailing the desperation and dreams of the garimpeiros, treating the massive human anthill as an extended metaphor for the intense inequalities of Brazilian society and the destructive obsession with material wealth that cuts deep into the natural world.