

In Europe, at the end of the 19th century, social policies sent thousands of immigrants out of their countries. A Spaniard, a Portuguese, and an Italian seek new opportunities in the new country, without imagining the difficulties along the way.

Ana and Zeca have a happy marriage, but they can't have children. To fulfill their dream, the couple hires the young Clara as a surrogate mother, which leads them into a legal dispute.




The telenovela tells the story of Francisca Moura Imperial, a wealthy businesswoman, and her two sons: Jordão and Tiago, who show little interest in the family business. Jordão is the product of a whirlwind romance in Francisca's youth, while Tiago was born from her marriage to Roberto, a seductive man who moves in high society but is penniless. Francisca is preoccupied with her sons but cannot interfere in their lives as much as she would like. Eccentric and full of outlandish ideas, she decides to undergo plastic surgery, which makes her look 20 years younger, believing that this will bring her closer to Jordão and Tiago. Francisca's greatest concern is that at least one of her sons will marry and give her a grandchild, thus ensuring the continuation of the family name.

Childhood friends Cidinha and Leda follow opposite paths, but envy the life the other has chosen. Belo's love and custody of their daughter lead them into a competition.



Lia rises professionally and finds the strength to ask her husband, Mário, a good-natured rogue, for a divorce. The separation will decisively influence the life of one of her sons, Chico-Tico, who begins to show symptoms of a rare neurological disease known as "absence syndrome." Through temporal lapses, the boy absents himself from the present life, living in another reality, of which he later retains no memory. In the village where the family lives, there also reside Nicola, a teenager infatuated with older women; his mother, Filomena, an Italian woman who tries to contain her son's passionate outbursts; Seu Oliveira, the newsstand owner, a friendly Spaniard with a slightly anarchist past; and his two daughters, Margô and Heleninha. Also living in Lia's house are Astrides, the maid who dreams of parading with the Mangueira samba school, and Manequinho, her son, who works at Seu Oliveira's newsstand.

With new debts, the comedic Dulcinéa is struggling to save her theater once again when she meets the street children Caco, Minga, Cristina, Márcia, and Mico and gets the idea to put on a children's show to turn things around, but taming the little rascals is an arduous task. The new owner of the building, the Count of Castelnuovo, can't wait for the theater to close to build a commercial building, plotting to ruin Dulcinéa's plans and counting on the help of social worker Helena to get rid of the children. The Count also prevents his daughter, Jerusa, from dating the humble Thales because he wants her to marry the wealthy old man Camilo Batateira, putting the housekeeper Murcia to watch over her. There's also the romance between Carolina and Marcelo, thwarted by the wicked Ludmila, and the comical messes created by Lucrécia to prevent her son Mateus from marrying Mariana and leaving home.

In 1925, Gabriela, a poor, uneducated, yet charming woman becomes cook, mistress, and then wife of Nacib, a bar owner in Ilhéus, a small Brazilian coastal town run by the local colonels.

The story takes place in São Paulo, in the late 1920s, and has Mariano's memories as its starting point. Orphaned, he loses the aunt who raised him and ends up in Madame Iara's brothel, where he meets two people who transform his life: Esmeraldo, a gigolo who loves the good life who becomes his master; and the prostitute Guadalupe, known as Lu, a sweet and extremely sensual woman. Esmeraldo is Lu's boyfriend, whom he loves unconditionally. Mariano enters the couple's lives and ends up falling in love with her, thus forming the love triangle that drives the entire narrative.

Nine different women, their achievements, frustrations and conflicts, all played by Regina Duarte. At the beginning of each episode, the actress introduces the character she will play.