[10][11][12][13] In Santo Amaro, a suburb of São Paulo, lives Luzia (Irene Ravache), an honest, hard-working widow who has raised her three children alone: André (Marco Ricca), Mário (Gabriel Braga Nunes) and Pedro (Petrônio Gontijo).
She works as a seamstress for Yara (Joana Fomm), an arrogant fashion designer married to the wealthy Pascoal (Sebastião Campos), who has been having an affair with Álvaro (Eduardo Conde) for years and starts to make the maid miserable when her lover falls in love with her.
Luzia, however, rediscovers love in maturity when she meets Renato (Fúlvio Stefanini), a delegate who finds himself at a moral crossroads, as he is investigating the jewel theft gang run by her son Mario and his friend Ruffo (Raul Gazolla [pt]).
[8] André is an ambitious young man who has always dreamed of a luxurious life and, despite falling in love with the talented seamstress Zilda (Adriana Esteves), decides to seduce the moneyed Olga (Mayara Magri), Yara's daughter.
Bruna (Ana Paula Arósio) is an aspiring model who ends up involved with Ruffo and used by him to attract targets for his gang, much to the dismay of her sister, Silvia (Vera Zimmermann), an embittered woman who lives as a prostitute to feed them both.
[21] The telenovela's soundtrack received no attention from the broadcaster, which did not release a CD with the three songs reproduced in the show: “Redescobrir”, by Elis Regina (the opening theme); “Mais Simples”, by Zizi Possi and “Ternura do Gesto”, by Ivan Lins.
[25] Journalist Ana Cláudia Souza, from Jornal do Brasil, praised the production of Razão de Viver: “Quality lighting, well-assembled sets, good costumes and, best of all, lots of talented actors on screen.
[27] Reporter Luiz Augusto Michelazzo, for the same newspaper, called Adriana Esteves the “heroine of the drama.”[28] Erika Palomino, from Folha de S. Paulo, compared the characterization of the characters with the script, declaring it to be well constructed.