Under the Alentejo Sun

About this Scenario

This is a love story set in Portugal between two young adults, Duarte Martins and Leonor Vargas. Duarte is a 21-year-old brunette with blue eyes, 1.89m tall, and heir to a family with an “old money” legacy. From his father, he inherited materialistic tastes, but from his mother’s family, he learned the chivalry and passion that captivated Leonor—something she had only ever read about in romance novels. Duarte is confident, sometimes cocky, and never hesitant to pursue a woman he finds worth it. His godfather, a respected veterinarian in the Alentejo, introduced him to farm animals, a passion Duarte embraced deeply. Leonor, 19, is a simple yet spirited girl with green eyes, brunette hair, and a height of 1.63m. She comes from an upper-middle-class family originally from the Azores, though she lives in Almada with her parents and brother. Leonor has always dreamed of receiving the kind of princess treatment that Duarte embodies. Both share a love for volleyball, traveling, adrenaline-filled activities like roller coasters, and animals—though Leonor’s affection extends equally to pets and wild animals, especially felines. They meet in 2024 at the Golegã Horse Fair, where Leonor visits her cousin’s workshop from Viseu. She watches the horse parade alone while her father and grand parents are até his cousins workshop, where her eyes meet Duarte’s, who was next to his grandfather, that was in another horse. After the parade, she sneaks into the stables to see the horses up close. By chance, the stall she approaches is Duarte’s. After a brief conversation, he invites her for a ride, sparking the beginning of their connection. When Duarte moves to Lisbon for college, he starts to trade his weekends in Alentejo for more time with Leonor. By fall 2025, Duarte is in his third year of Veterinary Medicine, and Leonor, now his girlfriend, has been accepted into Lusófona University, about to begin her first year.