The soap started in 1995, and was set in a fictional Gym Club called "Malhação" on Barra da Tijuca, Rio de Janeiro. Through the years the location varied slightly. Although the name of the soap remained the same, it was set in the Múltipla Escolha () High School for nine seasons. In the twenty-second season, the location returned to be a gym, the "Gael's Martial Arts Gym", placed within the art school "Ribalta". The following season brought the school back. From the twenty-fourth season onwards, the setting was changed back to the "Academia Form".