Among Oliveira's uncontested masterpieces, Abraham's Valley is an adaptation of a novel that Oliveira himself commissioned from Bessa-Luís who, in turn, loosely took Madame Bovary as her inspiration. Oliveira's longtime muse, the wondrous Leonora Silveira, stars as Ema, a provincial doctor's daughter whose remarkable beauty and restless spirit drive men to reckless extremes of passion and devotion. Set in Oliveira's beloved Douro valley, Abraham's Valley uses the landscape as the lush backdrop for a haunting drama of unrequited love and impossible desire enlivened by Oliveira's wry humor.