About Mar do Sertao
Mar do Sertao is a Brazilian early-evening telenovela that aired on TV Globo from August 2022 to March 2023, unfolding in the fictional backlands town of Canta Pedra deep in the Bahian sertao. Created by Mario Teixeira, the novela leans into northeastern regional culture, mixing the dust and droughts of the caatinga with cordel poetry, folk faith, and the rhythms of small-town life. At its heart is a love triangle that pulls an entire community into its orbit.
The story follows Candoca, a strong-willed young woman raised in Canta Pedra, who is torn between two very different men. Ze Paulino is a warm, hardworking local who returns after years away and rekindles a deep bond with her, while Tertulinho is the ambitious, privileged son of the town's domineering colonel, determined to win Candoca and consolidate his family's power. Their rivalry exposes old grudges, buried secrets, and the fault lines between the powerful and the working people of the sertao.
Beyond the romance, Mar do Sertao paints a sprawling portrait of community: matriarchs and merchants, dreamers and schemers, all bound together by land, water, and tradition. Family rivalry and questions of inheritance, faith, and belonging drive the plot, but the tone stays largely warm and hopeful, celebrating the resilience, humor, and culture of Brazil's interior while delivering the heightened drama audiences expect from a classic novela das seis.
