A Lei do Amor

A Lei do Amor (English title: Wounded Past; literal meaning: The Law of Love) is a Brazilian telenovela produced and broadcast by TV Globo. It premiered on 3 October 2016, replacing Velho Chico, and ended on 31 March 2017, being replaced by A Força do Querer.

Created by Maria Adelaide Amaral and Vincent Villari, the telenovela is directed by Natalia Grimberg and Denise Saraceni.

It features performances by Cláudia Abreu, Reynaldo Gianecchini, Vera Holtz, Grazi Massafera, Tarcísio Meira, José Mayer, Ricardo Tozzi, Thiago Lacerda, Claudia Raia, Isabella Santoni, Humberto Carrão, Alice Wegmann and Heloísa Périssé in the main roles.

The plot features the story of Heloísa and Pedro who after years of separation meet once again and realize the feelings they had for each other, and the efforts of Tião and Magnólia to separate them. It also features politics, power, seduction, comedy, envy, and family drama in the fictitious town of São Dimas where the characters' lives intertwine to create cohesion and conflicts.

Plot
The story begins in 1995 in a fictitious city of São Dimas, a metropolitan region of São Paulo, which is a typical picture of society and politics. A medium-sized town, that has its main source of income from a weaving factory headed by businessman Fausto (Tarcísio Meira) and his wife Magnólia (Vera Holtz), known to many simply as Mág, whom the city's population has real veneration.

What most people don't know is that Mág, behind the veneer of false tenderness which all tend to view, hides her true nature; she is arrogant, authoritarian, always thirsty for power and without any scruples. By using various tricks to get what she wants no matter who gets hurt and trying to use these as justification that everything she does is to keep his family together. Fausto married Mág shortly after her first wife's death, who was Pedro's (Chay Suede/Reynaldo Gianecchini) mother. They have to other children Hércules and Vitória.

Pedro meets Heloísa, a young woman who lives a quiet life with her parents; her mother Cândida, who has leukemia, and the unemployed and alcoholic father Jorge. In an act of desperation, her father tries to rob the textile company owned by Fausto but ends up being indicted and arrested; in prison, there is a rebellion and the latter dies. Later, his mother also passes on from her disease for lack of proper treatment.

With Helô and Pedro's relationship, which started prior to the unfortunate events, Mág and Fausto cultivate a plan to separate the two. They hire Gabriela, a new secretary of Mág to seduce and lure Pedro to bed and they also contract Helô to a modeling agency run by Mág's trusted friend and confidante Gigi. In cahoots with Mág, Gigi sends Helô away from São Dimas for a modeling leaving Pedro vulnerable to Suzana. At the same time they cut communication between the two and Pedro felt that Helô had moved on without him. On the night of Helô surprise return, Pedro got drunk and fell a sleep. Mág demands Suzana to seduce Pedro. Helô finds the naked Suzana with Pedro and believes that Pedro betrayed (even though nothing really happened between the two and Pedro never knew about it till years later). During the anger episode Helô leaves São Dimas indefinitely to be a professional model where she meets Tião, a man that she marries and Pedro lives for France due to the pain he felt by Helô's absence.

Years later, Helô has seemingly moved on with her powerful Tião (José Mayer) who are apparently become distant over the years, with their two children; Letícia who suffers the same ailment the grandmother had and Edu who has a difficult relationship with his father. Pedro returns to São Dimas and their romance with Helô is rekindled, once more putting each other to the test as the forces that are set to separate them are more reinforced.

Cast

 * Cláudia Abreu as Heloísa "Helô" Martins Bezerra
 * Isabelle Drummond as Young Helô
 * Reynaldo Gianecchini as Pedro Guedes Leitão
 * Chay Suede as Young Pedro
 * Vera Holtz as Magnólia Costa Leitão
 * Ana Carolina Godoy as Young Magnólia
 * José Mayer as Sebastião "Tião" Bezerra
 * Thiago Martins as Young Sebastião
 * Isabella Santoni as Letícia Martins Bezerra
 * Humberto Carrão as Tiago Leitão
 * Sophia Barclay as Sara Garcia de Oliveira
 * Alice Wegmann as Isabela Dias
 * Tarcísio Meira as Fausto Leitão
 * Thiago Lacerda as Ciro Noronha
 * Maurício Destri as Young Ciro
 * Camila Morgado as Vitória Costa Leitão Noronha
 * Sophia Abrahão as Young Vitória
 * Grazi Massafera as Luciane Leitão
 * Danilo Grangheia as Hércules Costa Leitão
 * João Vítor Silva as Young Hércules
 * Ricardo Tozzi as Augusto Tavares
 * Hugo Bonemer as Young Augusto
 * Claudia Raia as Salete
 * Daniel Rocha as Gustavo
 * Emanuelle Araújo as Yara Garcia
 * Bruna Moleiro as Young Yara
 * Heloísa Périssé as Mileide Rocha
 * Arianne Botelho as Aline Garcia de Oliveira
 * Bianca Müller as Ana Luiza Costa Leitão
 * Matheus Fagundes as Eduardo "Edu" Martins Bezerra
 * Bruna Hamú as Camila Leitão
 * Tuca Andrada as Misael de Oliveira
 * Acauã Sol as Young Misael
 * Otávio Augusto as César Venturini
 * Maurício Machado as Arlindo Nacib
 * Gil Coelho as Wesley
 * Regiane Alves as Beth Tavares
 * Ana Rosa as Zuleika "Zuza" Pessoa
 * Maria Flor as Flávia
 * Danilo Ferreira as Zelito
 * Titina Medeiros as Ruty Raquel Rocha
 * Armando Babaioff as Bruno Pessoa
 * Gabriel Chadan as Robinson
 * Érico Brás as Jader Azevedo
 * Pierre Baitelli as Antônio Ferrari
 * João Campos as Élio Bataglia
 * Theo Medon as Young Élio
 * Tato Gabus Mendes as Olavo Maciel
 * Marcella Rica as Jéssica
 * Bia Montez as Leila de Oliveira

Guest stars

 * Regina Duarte as Suzana Rivera
 * Gabriela Duarte as Young Suzana
 * Denise Fraga as Cândida Martins
 * Daniel Ribeiro as Jorge Martins
 * Bianca Salgueiro as Carmen da Silva Leitão

Volume 1

 * Cover: Cláudia Abreu, Reynaldo Gianecchini, Chay Suede and Isabelle Drummond

Volume 2

 * Cover: Alice Wegmann and Humberto Carrão

Ratings
The first episode of A Lei do Amor registered a viewership rating of 30 points in Greater São Paulo, the lowest viewership for the 8/9 pm telenovela premiere.