O Rei do Gado

O Rei do Gado (English: King of Cattle) is a Brazilian telenovela written by Benedito Ruy Barbosa and directed by Luiz Fernando Carvalho that was produced and broadcast on Rede Globo, from 17 June 1996 to 15 February 1997, totaling 209 episodes and 130 in the original version of the SIC in Portugal.

History

Synopsis

First phase

Occurs during the Second World War in the 1940s. In São Paulo, two families, Berdinazzi and Mezenga have a feud over land. It happens that the children of two families, Giovanna Berdinazzi and Enrico Mezenga, fall in love, going against the fight of his parents, Giuseppe and Antonio. Giovanna and Enrico get married and have one son who is named Bruno, named after a brother of Giovanna, who died in the war and was a close friend of Enrico, despite the enmity between the families.

Second phase

Occurs in 1996, and Bruno is now a successful farmer, known by the nickname "King of the Cattle" for possessing a large herd. A man of simple habits, to whom the wealth is just something else, Bruno lives an unhappy marriage to Leah and has two sons, Mark and Leah. Upon discovering the betrayal of Leah with the driver Ralf, Bruno divorces her.

When having to solve the problem of occupation of their farms Pereira Barreto, a group of landless led by Regino and his wife Jacira, Bruno knows a day-worker called Luana. The two fall in love, unaware that they are cousins. He begins to find happiness until he meets her uncle - senior Geremias Berdinazzi - a powerful millionaire known as "King of Coffee and Milk" from Guaxupé Minas Gerais. Both man manifest intention of buying land which belonged to their past families. Even long after the rift between the Berdinazzi and Mezenga started.