No Greater Love (Ikaw Lamang)

inquire now

synopsis

The story begins in the 1960’s, a time when a great wall divided the sugar barons and the sacadas (sugar plantation workers) of Central Philippines. Samuel, a sacada, falls in love with Isabelle, daughter of the landed elite. Both try to defy the odds but fail to bridge their opposing worlds, forcing them to go their
separate ways. Isabelle ends up marrying Franco, son of wealthy landowners, and they have a daughter named Natalia. Meanwhile, the heartbroken Samuel’s one night stand with his loyal friend Mona results in their marriage and the birth of their son, Gabriel.

A few years pass and Samuel becomes the leader of the sacadas fighting against the injustices of their landowners. Isabelle is a battered wife who remains trapped in a world where she has no voice. She has given birth to another daughter, Andrea, who Franco believes was fathered by Samuel. Franco, now the
corrupt mayor of their town, is challenged by Samuel in his campaign to be the next Governor. Violence instigated by Franco’s camp results in tragedy and endangers both the families ofSamuel and Isabelle. Isabelle finally decides to leave Franco and consents with Samuel’s plan to flee to Manila with her daughters.

Franco gets wind of their plan and manages to snatch Natalia from Isabelle. He plants a bomb on the ship where Samuel, Isabelle, their children and their immediate families have boarded going to Manila. The bomb explodes. Samuel, Isabelle, Gabriel and Andrea find themselves losing their beloved ones and separated by fate.

It is now the present time and Samuels’s son Gabriel and Isabelle’s daughter Andrea, who are both spitting images of their parents, meet under serendipitous circumstances, unknowing of their parents’ past. They develop feelings for each other but their chance at romance is once again threatened by circumstance.

Gabriel vows to exact revenge on Franco who is now a powerful senator. He takes advantage of Natalia’s vulnerability and uses her to anchor his grand plan against Franco. Meanwhile, Andrea, who grew up with adoptive parents, is later reunited with Franco and Natalia.

Will the love of Samuel and Isabelle, seemingly reborn in Gabriel and Andrea, survive this time?

SYNOPSIS: BOOK 2
2000’s
Franco walks away with impunity, having been elected as Senator and rumored to be eyeing the presidency. Gabriel begins his revenge against him by sabotaging Natalia's wedding to James as he produces photos showing the latter flirting with another woman.

A kind-hearted jail warden named Roman helps Samuel escape from jail. Samuel eventually locates Calixto, Lupe and Gabriel. In order to begin life anew and help Gabriel exact revenge against Franco, he and Calixto briefly return to Salvacion to dig and sell the gold bars that were buried with Maximo when he was buried alive by Gonzalo and Pacquito before the ship explosion.

Isabelle, introducing herself as Dolores, helps Esther after the latter collapses in a public market. She becomes friends with Esther and Roger, and later meets Jacq, whom she is able to recognize as her daughter Andrea.

Gabriel enters into a relationship with Natalia only to destroy their relationship later on in favor of Jacq (whose real identity Gabriel is not yet aware of) as part of his revenge against Franco. While courting her, Gabriel follows her to Salvacion, accompanied by Jacq. Natalia informs her father's chief of staff and
mistress Tessa (Mylene Dizon) about somebody who looks like her mother. The paths of Franco and Jacq then cross as a DNA test proves a father-daughter relationship between them.

Franco holds a party introducing Andrea as his daughter. Isabelle sneaks into the party and Franco sees her. Franco manages to have his wife and children live in the same home, and resorts to devilish means to prevent Isabelle and Andrea from escaping again. Franco and Isabelle supposedly renew their vows, but
Isabelle hints that she cannot love Franco the same way she loves Samuel. During this occasion, Samuel and Gabriel successfully rescue Andrea and Isabelle, but later on Natalia can only helplessly watch as Franco ruthlessly murders Samuel.

Charges of murder, falsification of documents and domestic violence are filed against Franco but despite a legislative hearing and the issuance of a warrant of arrest against him by the NBI, he refuses to surrender, holding Andrea hostage. Franco and Gabriel go on a duel in a ship but Franco falls off the ship to his
death after getting pierced by the ship's anchor. In the end, Andrea marries Gabriel and it is implied that Gabriel has regained the land in Salvacion that Franco took away from his family.

preview

Main cast and character guide

Kim Chiu

as Isabel

Coco Martin

as Samuel

Jake Cuenca

as Franco

Julia Montes

as Mona

KC Concepcion

as Natalia

Kim Chiu

as Jacq

Coco Martin

as Gabriel

Kim Chiu as Isabel

She leads the life of a princess, but is repressed and miserable. She finds love and hope anew when she reunites with her childhood friend, Samuel, one of her family’s sugar plantation workers. However, pressure from her family drives her to marry Franco, son of wealthy landowners.

Coco Martin as Samuel

The son of a plantation worker, he grew up impoverished but with agood sense of values. He will devote his life towards defending the rights of his fellow workers, which will place him at odds with the family of the woman he loves most, Isabelle. He later marries his loyal friend Mona and they have a son, Gabriel. Nevertheless, his unwavering love for Isabelle will haunt him and bring on dire circumstances.

Jake Cuenca as Franco

The son of wealthy landowners, he is used to getting what he wants. But he never truly owns the heart of his wife Isabelle, the woman he loves with an obsession. Aside from being the thorn in his marriage, Samuel also turns out to be his biggest political rival. Franco vows to do everything to get him out of his way.

Julia Montes as Mona

She is Samuel’s loyal friend who shares his humble roots. Mona’s secret love for him is revealed and she seduces a heartbroken
Samuel to a one night stand that bears them a son, Gabriel. She later becomes collateral damage for Samuel’s hopes for a political
career.

KC Concepcion as Natalia

She is the firstborn of Franco and Isabelle, growing up privileged and spoiled in her father’s domain. Natalia becomes the centerpiece of Franco’s life, both of them believing that her mother and her sister Andrea have died in a boat tragedy. She is jilted by her fiancé but gives romance a second chance when she is courted by Gabriel.

Kim Chiu as Jacq

Andrea, who now goes by the name Jacq, was cared for by humble, adoptive parents after being separated from her family while she was a child. She has a striking resemblance to her mother Isabelle, but in contrast, she is sassy, trusting and optimistic. Being a hopeless romantic, she only has eyes for Gabriel and is crushed when he gets together with Natalia. Her life totally changes when
she is reunited with her father, Franco.

Coco Martin as Gabriel

He grows up parentless, turning out to be a charming man and a spitting image of his father Samuel. Gabriel’s past sufferings made him cunning and scheming. He has never fallen in love for real, believing that love is a sign of weakness. That is, until he gets close to Jacq. But even Jacq has to wait, as Gabriel is fixated on getting even with Franco. He sets his eyes on Natalia, his most lethal weapon against the man who brought misery to his family.