I Still Have Hope

I haven’t waited in vain all this time

Beautiful Umut finds love with the secretly wealthy hairdresser Ozan, defying the cruelty of her stepfather and siblings to escape her grim life for one greater than she could have ever imagined.

The beautiful but downtrodden Umut finds her humdrum life transformed when she crosses paths with hairdresser Ozan. Emerging from the shadows of an unkind family, she finds love with a man who has concealed his true identity and wealth. Umut discovers a life of adventure that previously she had only dream about.

The 23-year-old Umut, whose name means hope, lives a bleak life in a rundown Istanbul neighborhood with her mother Zeliha and younger sister, along with the cruel stepfather Zafer, his grown-up son Musa and twin daughters Yelda and Selda. Zafer and his children conspire to make Umut’s life a misery.

Zafer’s children resent his second wife and her children, angry that he remarried soon after their mother’s death. While Zeliha works hard as a cleaner, Zafer himself is idle and bad tempered, picking fights at every opportunity.

Umut is prevented from pursuing her education and works as a receptionist in an elegant hairdressing salon for wealthy women to support her mother. Here she meets the cheerful and extrovert Ozan, who is like a breath of fresh air. He is immediately attracted to her.

In reality, Ozan is an only child whose father has amassed great wealth. Ozan’s relationship with his dad is strained by his failure to find a career. He agrees to work in a salon of his father’s friend but keeps his identity secret. In the past people have tried to exploit him because of his wealth.

At first, Ozan’s self-confidence annoys Umut. But as the tensions between them melt, they begin to fall in love. Umut confides in her mother about Ozan. Zeliha fears the rest of the family will find out and doom the relationship, so she advises her to keep it secret.

But her step siblings Musa, Yelda and Selda are a constant threat to Umut. They are jealous of her natural charm and resentful at failing to achieve their goal of fame and wealth. Umut wants to save her mother from the hell of life with the abusive and aggressive Zafer. But whenever Zeliha talks of leaving, he threatens to reveal a secret that could send her to jail.

Hopes of marriage between Umut and Ozan are crushed by his mother Emel when she discovers the truth about her family from the wrong side of town. Their relationship is also under threat from Ozan’s best friend Hakan, who loves her too, triggering a war between the two men.

With jealousy and rivalry threatening to sabotage her relationship with Ozan at every turn, Umut must summon all her strength and guile. As she does so, she discovers that new doors open up to her, offering a life greater than she could have ever imagined.