Based on the book by Cris Souza Fontes, Apaixonada tells the story of a woman who realizes how monotonous her life is. She finds herself desperate and facing an identity crisis. From then on, she is forced to begin an exciting journey of self-discovery that takes her close to all the passions that life has to offer.
Conceição and Presto, an interracial couple, ask Presto's brother for his signature as a guarantor of the financial request supposed to assure them an apartment in Leblon, the whitest neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro. The process proves to be much harder than they had imagined.
Graça is a single mother who works as a massage therapist and lives with her two children: Moreno, 8, and Papoula, 15. One day, in a visit to the doctor, Graça is diagnosed with a brain aneurism that may rupture at any moment. Desperate about who will take care of her kids in the event of her death, she decides to go after her brother, Luiz Carlos, whom she hasn't seen in over 15 years due to a quarrel. When they meet, however, Luiz Carlos has become Gloria, a beautiful and successful transvestite, who now owns a restaurant and brags about being independent. At first, Gloria is unwilling to reconnect with her family; but as she becomes more guilt-stricken, she accepts Graça's invitation to meet her nephews and eventually realizes that maybe, to be complete, she needs to become a mother.