Joaquim is at the end of his working life. According to a deal made with his employer, he will be able to retire after a brief period of unemployment. But first he has to submit a few token job applications to prove that he has tried to find work. His tour takes him to industrial areas in the Portuguese countryside where factories stand idle. There is little work, but everyone needs some sort of employment, provided by government programmes if necessary. It is from here that Joaquim set out in the 70s to try his luck in New York, where he worked as a chauffeur and cab driver and saw the world. New York as a rear projection and autobiographical reference point forms an important theme in the film, which plays beautifully with the boundary between reality and fiction.