Caray, Caray!

I found a synopsis or two and cobbled this together. "Sortilegio" means witchcraft, charm, fortune-telling.

Antonio Lombardo, successful in the construction business and married to an infertile woman, falls in love with Victoria, wife of his best friend Samuel, without intending to.

Learning of her pregnancy, Antonio wants to get a divorce and marry Victoria, but Samuel finds out and carries Victoria away to Europe before the babies are born, leaving no trace of their whereabouts. Twins are born, Bruno and Raquel, but Antonio doesn't know them. Meanwhile, Samuel accepts the children happily and raises them lovingly.

Antonio's wife Adriana undergoes fertility treatments and dies giving birth to a beautiful son, Alex. When the twins are six years old, Samuel dies too.

Victoria and Antonio, now both widowed, meet again and decide to unite their lives at the side of Bruno, Raquel, and Alex. They decide the time is not right to tell the twins Antonio is their true father.

Bruno - greedy, frivolous and calculating - never accepts Alex and, not knowing they are brothers, is his constant rival. The children grow up.

Antonio, disappointed by Bruno's rebellious and irresponsible acts and Raquel's frivolity, names Alex as his sole heir. When Antonio tells Victoria what he has decided, they have a big fight. Antonio dies unexpectedly and Alex becomes head of the family and the Lombardo business, which deepens Bruno's hatred.

Bruno meets a simple and beautiful provincial girl, María José (I dub her Mary Jo to avoid the accent marks) who lives with her loving father Pedro and her ambitious sister. He asks her to marry, pretending to be his younger brother.

Mary Jo excitedly awaits her wedding with "Alejandro," not realizing he is actually Bruno. Bruno's sinister plan is to marry Mary Jo, kill Alejandro so the young "widow" will inherit the fortune and then - because he is sure Mary Jo loves him - get her to give over the money.

After the wedding, Bruno returns to his house in the city of Merida and orders his half-brother's assassination. Alejandro is declared dead in a terrible car accident.

Bruno pretends to find the marriage document of Alejandro and Mary Jo. Victoria, his mother, contacts Mary Jo and tells her of the death of Alejandro. Overwhelmed by sadness, the young woman travels to Merida for the funeral; meanwhile Bruno goes to her village, reveals the truth to her father Don Pedro, and blackmails him into accepting his plan.

Bruno then presents himself to Mary Jo and tries to convince her to share the inheritance, but the girl is frightened and runs away. Bruno follows and makes her come back with him, assuring her that her father's life depends on it. The supposed widow is unwillingly tangled in his blackmail from which it isn't easy to escape because her liberty, and that of her father and sister, are in play.

Upon returning to Merida, they meet up with Alejandro, who is alive (to the surprise of all, especially Bruno), having been rescued by peasants who took him to a hospital.

Victoria is very surprised that Alejandro has married secretly, especially considering his engagement to Maura, and her doubts grow when he doesn't remember anything about his supposed marriage, but they attribute this to his partial amnesia from the accident.

Alejandro finds Mary Jo very attractive and decides to wait and see if he can remember her. He treats her kindly. Mary Jo realizes she is falling in love with Alejandro and her conscience will not leave her in peace. Meanwhile Bruno - who is dying of jealousy - is more threatening and violent all the time. His behavior awakens Alejandro's suspicions and when finally Mary Jo asks for a divorce, Alex pressures her to tell the truth.

Mary Jo knows that Bruno is a man without scruples and that, if she talks, she puts the lives of her loved ones at risk. However, she also knows that if she stays quiet, she risks the life of Alejandro, the man she loves.

The couple's love will be tarnished by the dirty games of their enemies, Bruno and Maura (who has always been in love with the galan), who will do even the impossible to separate them.

Labels: sortilegio, synopsis-cast