Naïve and provocative Gabriela is a raggedy migrant worker who arrives in town to mesmerize all with her playful and simple, yet raw sensuality. Set in 1925, the story unravels in Ilhéus, a quiet northeastern coastal city thriving with cocoa crops and aspirations for progress, even though the traditional ways still rule.

Luzia is a hard working mother whose life is turned upside down when she falls in love with Beto Falcão, a declining singer who regains his fame after taken for dead. But this romance jeopardizes the ambitious plans of Beto's ex-girlfriend and a devious bawd who will do anything to put an end to the musician's infatuation. In order to save her life, Luiza leaves her little children behind, flees the country and becomes DJ Ariella. Years later she comes back to fight fiercely for a second chance at reuniting her family, unaware she will soon meet again the love of her past and her tormentors.