Nerissa Cabral

Rebecca is born to a poor family, a young woman whose life is defined by poverty and deprivation. But of the many things she has to endure, it is the insults that other people hurl that hurt the most. Yet despite of everything, Rebecca remains ambitious and unabashed. She pledges to herself that she will one day raise herself and her family from poverty and when that time comes, she will get back at those who had oppressed them.

Dorina is an orphaned sampaguita vendor who dreams of becoming a big singing star like her idol, Lavinia. It later turns out that Lavinia is nothing like what Dorina thought she was. This disillusionment spurs the young girl to make it big as a singer and eventually become Lavinia’s chief rival.

On the outside it looks like a marriage made in heaven. But inside the thick walls of what they call home theirs is a relationship waiting to crumble. They have been waiting a child for so long but the wife does not have the capacity to bear a child. And when her husband cannot take it any it any longer he decides to end his misery once and for all.

Cristy’s persistence and Jim’s longing for a child lead to an illicit relationship. However, too much love suffocates, and covetousness can breed hate.

Noel struggles to accept his father's remarriage to Agnes and the arrival of his step-sister, Melody. The two grow up harboring a bitter hatred for each other. When their parents die, Noel becomes Melody's legal guardian, much to her dismay. Later, each now married, the two become business partners and eventually grow closer.

Lando is married to Lorna. He took on the huge responsibility of taking care of his widowed aunt Trixia and her two children, the youngest being a moron. Because of his obligations to his aunt's family, his relationship with his wife Lorna has not been as happy and ideal as they would have liked. Aside from being needy and dependent on Lando, Trixia has been very close to Lando, a fact that is very much seen by Lorna. A deep dark secret will be eventually revealed to Lorna: that Lando and Trixia is involved romantically and that Trixia's youngest child is Lando's. In the end, Lorna will be slowly relieved of the thorns that has been weighing down on her chest.

A young woman who all her life has lived under the shadow of her sister, a sister who is not only older but more assertive more intelligent and more appreciated. She knows that even with her best effort she cannot compete with her. Everything is fine with her she is after all more at peace with her kind of uncomplicated existence. But even the most submissive and most patient of people can only take so much. The day comes when she realizes that for her to live her own life she must end her meekness and learn to speak up.