The name, used by the author in almost all of his novels since Baila Comigo (1981), has become a mark of style and gives unity to his work, creating a bond between the strong and charming "middle-class heroines" as he usually does.
Manoel Carlos tells that he wrote the synopsis of Por Amor in 1983, but, involved with other projects, postponed the plot.
The author says that he relied on common people and personal dramas to write the plots and characters of Por Amor.
Helena is the divorced mother of Maria Eduarda, a spoiled young woman, and they both live in Leblon, where most of the story happens.
Mother and daughter get pregnant at the same time and give birth on the same day at the hospital in Rio de Janeiro, under the care of young doctor Cesar, a man who has always been in love with Eduarda.
Helena, however, suffers with the secret, and must treat her baby as a grandchild, and sees her marriage to Atilio deteriorate, despite the great love that unites them.
In the midst of it all, Eduarda, having been so spoiled by her mother, refuses to help her father Orestes' alcoholism, and he is taken care of by his young daughter Sandra instead.
Branca despises her daughter Milena's romantic involvement with Nando, Eduarda's stepbrother via Orestes, who is a helicopter pilot.
The last scene shows Marcelinho walking his first steps from Eduarda and Marcelo to Helena and Atilio, in the Rio de Janeiro Botanical Garden.