First: To watch Esperanca, you need to have seen Terra Nostra. At least, have minimum information about its characters. An special advice must be given. Benedito Ruy Barbosa, the prestigious writer, thought about Terra Nostra as a trilogy, covering 3 different periods of the same families, some italian relatives. The idea was not turn in practice, and he mixed details of the 2nd and 3rd chapters of the trilogy in Esperanca. The plot was good, but the "solution" for the problems that Barbosa created during the first months took real big efforts. The episodes were written almost at the same time they needed to be filmed. The big structure of the crew became upside-down. Globo TV put Walter Carrasco as the substitute writer, in order to make it faster, and he made a real mess in the history, inserting weird situations, changing the personalities of some protagonists with no reason. The audience didn't forgive all the mistakes. Globo TV considers it a good experience about "what we shouldn't do". If you want my opinion, do not waste your time with Esperanca, keep with Terra Nostra only.