Lado a Lado

Jane the Virgin is an American telenovela. When Jane Villanueva was a young girl, her grandmother, Alba, convinced her of two things: telenovelas are the highest form of entertainment, and women must protect their virginity at all costs. Now age 23, Jane is a driven young woman studying to become a teacher, nursing a dream to be a writer, and supporting herself with a job at a hot new Miami hotel. All the years of watching telenovelas with the two women who raised her – her sexy, young-at-heart mother, Xiomara (known as “Xo”), and her still-devout grandmother, Alba – have given Jane a slightly unrealistic view of romance. Although she is determined not to make the same mistake Xo made – becoming an unwed mother at 16 – Jane could not be closer to the two wonderful women who have shaped her life. They are very different people – Xo lives her life as a perpetual teenager, performing at local clubs and always looking for a new man, while Alba makes religion and prayer the focus of her life – but both women consider Jane the center of their universe and love the grounded, compassionate and ambitious young woman she has become. Despite the conflicting influences of her mother and grandmother, Jane has managed to find a wonderful fiancé: a handsome, hard-working detective named Michael, who loves her enough to accept her detailed timeline for their future together and even her insistence on “saving herself” until they’re married. All of Jane’s meticulous life plans are turned upside down, however, when she sees her doctor for a routine check-up and is accidentally artificially inseminated with a specimen meant for the patient in the next room. Unbeknownst to her, the specimen belongs to Rafael, a reformed playboy and cancer survivor, who is not only the new owner of the hotel where Jane works but also a former summer crush of hers. The series stars Gina Rodriguez (“Filly Brown,” “The Bold and the Beautiful”) as Jane, Justin Baldoni (“Single Ladies,” “The Bold and the Beautiful”) as Rafael, Brett Dier (“Ravenswood”) as Michael, Andrea Navedo (“Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “Golden Boy”) as Xiomara, Yael Grobglas (“Reign”) as Petra, Ivonne Coll (“Switched at Birth,” “The Bold and the Beautiful”) as Alba and Jaime Camil (“Devious Maids,” “Que Pobres Tan Ricos”) as Rogelio.