I still have hope (Umut and Ozan) - introducing the series

Original title: Benim hala umudum var
Title Translation: I still have hope (pun - Umut, the main heroine, in Turkish means hope).
Broadcasted in Turkey by Star TV and Fox TV in 2013-2014
Episodes: 33 (?)

Umut (Gizem Karaka) is a young woman of 23 lives in a poor neighborhood of Istanbul with her mother, younger brother and stepfather, who has three other children. When she was 6 Umut lost her father and Zeliha, her mother, re-married Zafer, a taxi driver who was a widower. When he met Zeliha, he was living alone with his three children, Musa, 10 yo, and two twin girls, Yelda and Selda, seven. His desire was to remarry a woman who could be a good mother to his children.

After marriage, the couple had a child together, Ali. Umut hardly adapts to her new family and she has a difficult relationship with her siblings, especially with Musa (violent and trouble maker), who is constantly influenced by the twins against her. Umut works at a famous beauty salon.

Ozan (Sukru Ozyildiz) is a 25 years old young man, rich, funny and playboy who falls in love at first sight when he meets Umut by chance. When he learns that she works at a beauty salon, he goes there and insists to be hired as a hairdresser, for her sake. The two like each other very much and they begin to know each other better, so a profound love appears between them. However, Ozan still doesn't tell Umut much about him and who he really is, because from the very beginning she revealed her prejudices on the rich people. Because she comes from a poorer family and despises the rich, Ozan lies to her that he is poor too. Both keep their love away from people's sight: Umut because she has a traditionalist and strict family, Ozan because he lied about his origins and because his parents wouldn't accept Umut as their daughter in law.

As the relationship goes on, Ozan wants to reveal his girlfriend who he really is but never finds the right time to do it and the more he loves her, the harder it seems for him to tell the truth.

The series tries to be a modern Cinderella with new problems: how long can Ozan lie that he is poor? What will happen when Umut finds out the truth? Can they live together, having so different backgrounds and different conceptions of life?

Eventually they get married, but Ozan had an affair before marriage and that woman becomes pregnant with him. When Umut finds out, she leaves him and asks for divorce, trying to give a chance to a young man, Hakan, who loves her. From what I read on the internet, I understood that the series was supposed to have 60 episodes, but because the rating dropped sharply at a time, it ended after the first season as it follows: Umut and Ozan reconcile, Melis (the pregnant woman) dies and the two heroes grow the orphaned child together.

Cast

Gizem Karaka - Umut
Surku Ozyildiz - Ozan
Berk Oktai - Hakan, Ozan's best friend, the owner of a models agency. He becomes Umut's boss and he falls in love with her too.
Lacin Ceylan - Asude, another owner of a models agency
Ali Erkazan - Zafer, Umut's stepfather
Nergis Corakci - Zeliha, Umut's mother
Sermin Humeric - Emel, Ozan's mother
Levent Ozdilek - Ragip, Ozan's father
Burak Altay - Musa, Umut's elder stepbrother
Belgin Erdogan - Hale, Umut's best friend, whom Musa will fall in love with