Lena – Liebe meines Lebens (Lena - Love of my Life) is a German telenovela, starring Jessica Ginkel and Max Alberti. It is an adaption of the Argentine telenovela Don Juan y Su Bella Dama, created by Claudio Villarruel and Bernarda Llorente. The telenovela, produced by the international production company Endemol, premiered on September 20, 2010.^[1]

Lena Sander is a good-hearted, spirited, attractive young woman. She has lived in Cologne since birth and is a trained clerical worker. Lena doesn't enjoy this profession much, which leads to her switching from job to job. Lena lives with her boyfriend of six years, Tony Weiss and his eight-year-old son Luca, whom she loves as she would her own child. Her parents, Frank and Pia, live together with her younger brother Michael right across the street from her. Lena leads a very normal life with which she is more or less happy. However, all of this changes on the day she quite accidentally meets Countess Amelie von Arensberg. Following a bad day, Lena almost runs over Amelie with her bicycle. Lena helps the ageing Countess, who is quite confused at being nearly run over, back to her home, where she meets Amelie's grandson David. David von Arensberg, a musician and composer has just returned home to Cologne having spent almost two years away in Los Angeles. Lena and David feel drawn to each other, however, Lena in particular realises that she is already in a steady relationship with Tony.

The taste for telenovelas in Germany can be attributed in a large measure to the airing of some of the finest Latin American telenovelas such as Sinha Moca and Isaura. The German experiment got to an unsteady start. The production of two telenovelas, Alisa – Folge deinem Herzen and its sequel Hanna - Folge deinem Herzen, were both received less than enthusiastically by viewers, who saw the plot as being two closely aligned and with nothing new or challenging. In this climate, the ZDF channel partnered with Endemol to adapt the Argentine telenovela Don Juan y Su Bella Dama. The result, originally named Lena - Melodien der Liebe, found its German developer with Günter Overmann and his writing team, who promised to create something new in the flavorless German telenovela world, while retaining the warm and humane style of most of the ZDF telenovelas. The production started on June 30, 2010 in Cologne.^[2] Most of the scenes were shot at the MMC Studios in Hürth, Schloss Gymnich and in downtown Cologne.

Even though the show is an adaption from the Argentine original, a few parts have been changed to suit German audiences.^[3] Producer Quirin Berg observed that these changes needed to be made especially because the original was a primetime format in which social violence played a large part.^[4] Another consideration, according to Berg, was the need to adapt the storyline and scenes to suit European and in particular German audiences. There was also the need to adapt certain socio-political and socio-economic aspects of the original to reflect the standards of realism in art and film both in Germany and the rest of western Europe.^[5]

The telenovela was aired on September 20, 2010 in three European countries, including Germany. The other two countries were Austria and Switzerland. The telenovela is the result of a co-production between these three countries, with the ZDF in Germany as the main contributor and partner of Endemol. In all three countries Lena - Liebe meines Lebens took over the time slot of an earlier telenovela Hanna - Folge denim Herzen . In Estonia this telenovela was aired in May 2011 and the following year in January 2012 in Latvia.