Arlete Salles

In Ambitious Women, all levels of ambition are revealed in a plot full of greed, revenge and struggle for power, through the conflicts of three strong women with very different personalities.

It follows the lives of the members of a dysfunctional family, their maid and the doorman of the apartment building in which they lived.

Inspired on Jorge Amado's romance "Tieta do Agreste", the plot is set on the fictional city of Santana do Agreste, at Brazil's northwest, and has as main theme Tieta's life turnarounds. Twenty-five years after being chased out of town by her father Zé Esteves, she returns to her home town seeking revenge against everyone who mistreated her and laugh at her face in the past.

Griselda is a tough, hard-working handywoman who managed to raise her three children on her own. She struggles to make ends meet but after winning the lottery tensions rise as people inevitably show their true value. With plenty of romance and intrigue this incredibly rich and fun telenovela brings together the true values of friendship, love, and family.

After stirring society by leaving her groom at the alter and going directly to a prostitution house, a young model becomes the city's most famous harlot, known as "Hilda the Hurricane", in the 50's Brazil. She could do fine if it wasn't for Malthus, a young novice said to be a saint, for whom she falls in love. However, the boy is kept under the strict, severe doctrine of Father Nelson, a conservative priest intolerant even to every minor sin. Things start getting harder when Roberto, Malthus' old friend and a communist reporter (the actual author of the story), tries to interview Hilda and disclosure the real reasons behind her radical change of mind. In the meantime, the middle-classes are terrified by the "leftist threat" in Brazilian politics.