Paulo Gonçalves

Jorge, an ambitious journalist, marries into money and betrays colleagues to become a powerful politician during political turmoil in 1946 Brazil.

Patricia, an orphan living in a traveling amusement park, believes the stars will bring her happiness. One day, an astrologer predicts the impossible: the young woman, an Aquarius, will fall in love with a Pisces boy, a sign initially incompatible with hers. The girl does, in fact, become enchanted by the wealthy student Renato, but he doesn't feel the same way. Patricia travels to Rio de Janeiro, where she befriends a gentleman whom she affectionately calls Mr. Pepe, unaware that he is Renato's great-uncle and the owner of the company where she begins working. Mr. Pepe discovers fraudulent activities committed by his family and decides to fake his death to observe the dispute over his inheritance.

Seven high school friends reunite after 20 years. Memories of the past and coincidences of the present reveal the secrets and affections that bind the women and their families.

After his grandfather's death, André Cajarana goes to Rio de Janeiro to understand the death of his father—whom he had always believed to be a hero—and to try to prove his innocence.

Herculano Quintanilha, after a failed coup and escape from prison, becomes a magician. He meets Márcio, a conflicted heir, and begins to influence his powerful family.

Nonô Corrêa, a character inspired by Molière's "The Miser", is the story's protagonist. The orphan Zezinho crosses paths with Nonô and wins the neurotic gentleman's heart.

To defend the humble Soró Sereno in a traffic accident, the mysterious Ciro Cerqueira, a bus driver, ends up getting involved with the traditional italian family of Mamma Vittoria Cantarelli, owner of a chain of canteens in which he starts to work as an executive, and is torn between the love of the matriarch's granddaughters, the responsible Luísa and the seductive Bruna, a woman who spares no effort to get what she wants.

Five women inherit a fortune from a stranger, but to claim the money they must fulfill certain requirements. How much is it worth to choose our own destiny?

The central theme of the soap opera is the struggle for political control in the interior of Bahia between the two most powerful *coronéis* (landowning bosses) of the cocoa region: Sinhô Badaró and Horácio da Silveira. Virgílio, an ambitious lawyer, is summoned to the town by Colonel Horácio but ends up becoming involved with Ester, the colonel's wife. Captain João Magalhães is a card sharp who poses as a military engineer, successfully deceiving the entire town. He falls in love with Sinhô Badaró's daughter, Donana. By the end of the story, he reveals that he had only gotten close to the Badarós out of opportunism. After numerous clashes with Sinhô Badaró, Colonel Horácio secures political power in the town of Ferradas, with the acknowledgment of the local population.