Sol and Tião are born to different social backgrounds—she to a poor suburban family in Rio, and him to an even poorer family who raised cattle in West São Paulo State. They eventually meet, due to unlikely circumstances, but part again, as she has set as her ultimate priority to reach the United States or bust. While she comes to the U.S. to live as an illegal immigrant, he remains in Brazil and, despite many trials and tribulations, he becomes a successful rodeo cowboy.

A mature and successful woman, Helena becomes involved with Edu, who is twenty years her junior. She battles prejudice in order to live her love, but their romance fizzles out when she realizes that her daughter Camila has also fallen in love with him. Her dilemma grows even worse when she discovers that the girl has leukemia. Helena must disclose the real identity of Camila‘s father in order to try and find a compatible bone marrow donor. In order to save her, she decides to give up her new love and have another baby with her daughter‘s father.