Senhora do Destino (English: Lady of the Destiny) is a Brazilian telenovela that was produced and aired by Rede Globo from June 28, 2004, to March 11, 2005, with a total of 221 episodes.
Written by Aguinaldo Silva with the collaboration of Filipe Miguez, Gloria Barreto, Maria Elisa Berredo, and Nelson Nadotti.
[7] Raul Cortez was going to play Colonel Justino in Cabocla, but gave up the character to accept the role of Barão de Bonsucesso at Aguinaldo Silva's request.
[8] The director thought of removing Marcello Antony from the cast when the actor was arrested for drug possession in April 2004, before starting the telenovela recordings, but decided to keep him.
After a series of setbacks on the trip, Maria do Carmo and her children arrive in Rio de Janeiro on December 13, 1968, the very day of the decree of Institutional Act Number Five (AI-5).
The Diário de Notícias, an opponent of the military regime, is invaded by the police, and Sebastião cannot fetch Maria do Carmo from the bus station.
Maria do Carmo decides to settle in the same place where her brother lives, in Vila São Miguel, fictitious district of Duque de Caxias, in the Baixada Fluminense, and swears that she will dedicate her life to locate her daughter Lindalva.
But the northeastern woman has another admirer: the now former bicheiro Giovanni Improtta, who honestly liquidated all his past accounts and earns his living as president of the Vila Sao Miguel United samba school and disputes with Dirceu the love of Maria do Carmo.
One of his characteristics is his inseparable bow tie, as well as the effort to speak correctly, which causes him to make several Portuguese grammar mistakes.
After meeting Giovanni Improtta, the baron agrees to be his personal stylist and teaches the former boss, who addresses Laura as Dona Baroa, ensuring many comic moments in history.
The eldest, Reginaldo, has become an ambitious politician who does not shy away from trying to take advantage of his mother's popularity, averse to his populist and demagogic profile.
Reginaldo wants to become mayor of Vila São Miguel and campaigns for the emancipation of the town, which is in the municipality of Duque de Caxias, in the Baixada Fluminense (RJ).
The driver only makes his peace with his son months later, when he is in an accident and gets between life and death, being saved thanks to a blood donation made by his own father.
He has a troubled relationship with his wife, Marinalva, a highlight of the Vila Sao Miguel Unidos samba school (better known as Nalva), which hides a passion for his brother-in-law Viriato, which causes many conflicts in his marriage.
Viriato, the third son of Maria do Carmo, is the head of Edgard Legrand's restaurant, Monsieur Vatel, in Ipanema, in the southern part of the city.
Eduarda's parents, Leonardo and Gisela, do not accept their daughter's relationship with a lower-class man and do what they can to see her married to young federal deputy Thomas Jefferson.
In the end, Leonardo discovers that he is the son of Butler Alfred with a cook who died in childbirth and was adopted by the Baron, which changes his outlook on life.
He ends up in the trap of the independent Yara, a few years older woman who wants to be a mother and chooses him as a "surrogate father" without even consulting him.
The farce of Nazaré begins to surface when photographer Rodolfo hands Dirceu a picture of a pregnant nurse with a baby on his lap taken by him during the riot in central Rio on December 13, 1968.
On the floor, with severe chest pains, he asks Nazareth to take his medicine, but the villain throws it away, leaving him to die in Isabel's arms.
She has as lover and ally the unscrupulous Josivaldo, the naughty husband of Do Carmo, who returns to the family after leaving her to have a wealth that no longer wanted, asking for alimony from his wife.
But Reginaldo and Viviane discover and force her to collaborate with the overpriced works of Vila São Miguel City Hall, issuing cold invoices at Do Carmo's store, and threaten to tell the truth about her origin to the Ferreira da Silva family if she doesn't obey them.
She manages to flee, but Maria do Carmo ends up being held responsible for the illicit acts and is caught red-handed for tax evasion and contempt of authority.
Reginaldo learns that Angelica is hiding in the real mother's house and the threat of death if she doesn't leave town, as she fears her sister-in-law will reveal that he is involved in the scheme.
He is a dreaded “fringe” in the community (his real name is Polybius), leader of an unoccupied class, and does not want to assume the paternity of the child.
Seu Jacques falls in love with Djenane, Nazaré's former colleague at the brothel, who reappears in the former prostitute's life to blackmail her, as he witnessed along with Madame Berthe that Nazaré kidnapped and forged the birth of Lindalva (Isabel), and threatens to tell everything to Isabel if Nazareth doesn't give her much money, because she knows where Madame Berthe's diary incriminating Nazareth is.
Fearful of being suspected of her colleague's death, the vixen sets up a situation for people to think that Djenane had stolen her jewelry and too much money from her home and would have stumbled and fallen down the stairs.
Actress Marilia Gabriela returns to the soap opera as Guilhermina, Josefa's daughter, who becomes an obstacle in the realization of an old dream of Sebastião and Dirceu: reopening the Diário de Notícias.
Josivaldo ends up in the streets, like a ragged and freaking beggar, with the only friend, the statue of Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Maria do Carmo marries Giovanni.
Through a narration by Maria do Carmo, viewers learn about the future of the young characters: Daiane wins the Nobel Peace Prize for her social role in raising awareness of teenage pregnancy and Bianca, granddaughter of Do Carmo and daughter of Reginaldo, will be elected mayor of Vila São Miguel, always seeking to ensure respect and honesty.