[1][2] Noted for being the first family film to be ever made in Brazil, it is also the first theatrical Sítio do Picapau Amarelo adaptation.

Introducing young actress Olga Maria as Emília and Paulo Matozinho as the title character Saci, it adapts the novel in which Pedrinho (Lívio Nanni) demonstrates interest in capturing the supernatural, one-legged mulatto boy figure, the Saci, inhabiting the nearby virgin forest.

[3] At the peaceful Sítio do Picapau Amarelo (Yellow Woodpecker Ranch), two kids, Pedrinho and Lúcia, and Lúcia's talkative and rough doll Emília, attempt to capture the Saci, advised by the wise Uncle Barnabé.

After Lúcia is cursed by the demonic, reptilian witch Cuca, the brave and bold Pedrinho starts a journey through the forest with the Saci, in order to make the evil hag bring the girl back.

Rodolfo Nanni wrote, produced and directed the film (the very first of the children-family genre in Brazil) at the age of 28, after returning from a cinema-studying season in Paris.