Rat Fever is the alcohol-drenched story of an unrequited love. The poet Zizo, a pure-bred anarchist, is lost as soon as he meets the sober Eneida. She doesn't mind being his muse, but she won't go any further than that - whereas in Zizo's circle of friends, made up of social losers, Bohemians and other proud outsiders, everyone goes to bed with everyone else. Meanwhile, Zizo is busy with his dubious battle against 'the system', using his self-published newsletter 'Febre do rato' and a series of subversive street performances that primarily seem to reach his own friends.