The Hero follows the intersecting lives of four individuals living in Luanda in the wake of the Angolan Civil War: Vitório, a war veteran crippled by a landmine in search of a job; Manu, a ten year old boy searching for his father four years after his disappearance; Joana, a second-grade teacher who mentors Manu; and Judite/Maria Barbara, a prostitute who begins a romantic relationship with Vitório.