Love and Punishment

Time does not affect tradition. It is the same now as a thousand year ago.

Betrayed by her fiancé, Yasemin has a one-night stand with Savaş, who falls in love with her and is determined to track her down despite the responsibilities forced upon him by family tragedy.

Yasemin’s dreams of a happy future are torn apart by her fiancé’s terrible betrayal. She drowns her sorrows in a Bodrum bar and has a one-night stand with a man whose name she does not know. He is Savaş, who becomes caught up in a family feud but cannot forget the beautiful Yasemin.

Working at an advertising agency, Yasemin has been with her fiancé Mehmet for over 3 years. Just a week before their wedding, she catches him in bed with her close friend. She is horrified, and angered further when he blames her because of her determination to remain a virgin until they marry.

Meanwhile, the U.S.-educated Savaş is attending his brother Kemal’s wedding to a woman named Çiçek in the eastern province of Van. Kemal is the eldest son of the powerful Baldar family. After the wedding Savaş travels to Bodrum for a vacation, just as the heartbroken Yasemin arrives in the southern resort.

As she tries to forget her suffering, Yasemin goes to a bar and the first man she meets is Savaş. After a night of heavy drinking they end up in bed together. Burdened with guilt and regret after a night of passion, she leaves without even learning his name.

Yasemin thinks Savaş is a bartender, unaware that he lives in Italy and is actually the son of one of Van’s richest families. He also fails to learn the identity of the woman who stole his heart that night.

While he wonders how he might meet this beautiful woman again, he is drawn back into the life of his family. His brother had married Çiçek in order to put an end to a conflict between their families. He now receives a phone call informing him that his brother and father died in a car accident.

As Savaş returns to Istanbul as the head of his family, Yasemin discovers she is pregnant with his baby. She returns to her job at the advertising agency and despite her mother’s objections, she initially plans to have an abortion. She also has to deal with her former fiancé reappearing to seek forgiveness.

As the head of the family, Savaş himself is faced with the traditional duty of marrying his brother’s wife to end the blood feud between their families. Continuing to search for Yasemin, he also takes over responsibility for the family’s shady business, trying to turn it into a respectable, modern company.

But all the while, Savaş cannot give up on his beautiful “Cinderella”. He is determined to track Yasemin down. She herself gives up on her abortion plans and has a child named Ömer. Ultimately, the two one-night stand lovers are fated to find each other again.