Força de um Desejo is a Brazilian telenovela produced by Rede Globo, and was shown in the schedule of 18 hours between May 10, 1999 and January 29, 2000, in 227 chapters. It was written by Gilberto Braga and as collaborators with Alcides Nogueira and Sérgio Marques, Lilian Garcia, Eliane Garcia, Philip Miguez and Mark Silver and directed by Mauro Mendonça Filho, Carlos Araújo, Fabricio Mamberti and João Camargo, with production of the core Marcos Paulo. Featured Malu Mader, Fábio Assunção, Cláudia Abreu, Marcelo Serrado, Selton Mello, Nathália Timberg, Lavínia Vlasak, Isabel Fillardis, Louise Cardoso, Reginaldo Faria, Denise Del Vecchio and Paulo Betti in leading roles. Synopsis The setting is Paraíba Valley, Rio de Janeiro, in the nineteenth century. Higino Ventura (Paulo Betti) is a former peddler who enriched with shady dealings and bought Hill Top Farm in the town of Sant'Anna, to approach his old flame, Helen (Sonia Braga), a resident of the farm neighbor, Golden Green, now married to the powerful Baron Henry de Sampaio Sobral (Reginaldo Faria). Ventura is willing to do anything to win back Helen, including buying Golden Green and obtaining a noble title. But Helena, though disregarding him for the love of her husband, suffers at the hands of the Baron, who knows that Abelard (Selton Mello), who raised him as his son is actually the son of Ventura. The couple's legitimate son, Inácio (Fábio Assunção), does not conform to the cruel treatment that his father gives his mother and decides to leave the farm. At Rio de Janeiro, he meets Esther Ramos Delamare (Malu Mader), a beautiful courtesan, owner of the most famous saloon of the Court. They fall in love and live an intense romance, and Esther decides to leave her kind of life just to live with Inácio. However, the unexpected death of his mother makes Inácio return to the farm to help his father and brother. Moreover, he splits with Esther because of intrigues by his grandmother, Idalina Menezes Albuquerque Silveira (Nathália Timberg), who, though not suspect Esther is a courtesan, fears her grandson's involvement with a girl of lower social class. To destroy the romance, Idalina falsifies his grandson's signature and sends Esther a letter, convincing her that Inácio does not love her anymore. Baron Sobral, devastated by the death of Helena and the feelings of guilt that torment him because he gave his wife a miserable life, decides