Esmeralda is a Mexican telenovela produced by Salvador MejÃÂa for Televisa in 1997. It is a remake of the 1970 Venezuelan telenovela of the same name, written by Delia Fiallo.
It stars Leticia Calderón, Fernando Colunga, Enrique Lizalde, Laura Zapata, Salvador Pineda and Ignacio López Tarso.
On Monday, May 5, 1997, Canal de las Estrellas started broadcasting Esmeralda weekdays at 8:00pm, replacing Mujer, casos de la vida real. The last episode was broadcast on Friday, November 14, 1997 with Desencuentro replacing it the following Monday.
It was the first collaboration between Fernando Colunga and Juan Pablo Gamboa, who would both later work in La usurpadora (1998), which is also a production of Mejia.
In the United States, it was first broadcast on Univision from December 15, 1997 to July 9, 1998.
In 1998 it was named Best Telenovela of the Year by the TVyNovelas Awards.
Rodolfo Peñarreal (Enrique Lizalde) is obsessed with having a son. After several miscarriages, his wife, Blanca (Raquel Morell), becomes pregnant again. One night, a baby girl is born, but it is believed she was stillborn.
In the same town, but in a more humble home, a baby boy is born, but his mother dies during childbirth. The midwife and Crisanta (Dina de Marco), Blanca's nanny, with the best intentions and hoping to appease Rodolfo, decide to switch the babies.
While Blanca is unconscious, Crisanta gives the midwife a pair of emerald earrings, forcing her to forget what happened that night. Once the exchange has been made, the midwife, Dominga (Raquel Olmedo), realizes that the baby girl is not dead, but it is now too late to correct the mistake.
Thus, the boy born in a miserable shack sees his first light in the opulence of a grand house, while the beautiful girl, born with a silver spoon in her mouth, takes her first steps amidst dilapidated walls and misery.
Esmeralda (Leticia Calderón), the Peñarreal baby girl, was born blind, but the kindness of her heart grants her the light to be happy and the hope that one day she will find love. Her eyes are "the eyes of love".
Time passes, and the destinies of both children, Esmeralda and José Armando (Fernando Colunga), intertwine when they fall in love at first sight. However, obsession, desire, family interests, a woman's false love, and the Peñarreal family's pride in upholding their lineage destroy every noble feeling.
Esmeralda and José Armando will be the victims in this sea of resentment, which little by little submerges them in the darkness of heartbreak.