The story is so engaging and the treatment is so “masa” down to earth and will surely be enjoyed by its target audience, the afternoon crowd of moms and children who stay at home after lunch. It starts with two good friends, Gary Estrada as Hernan and Allan Paule as Mario. They’re both poor and always try their luck in the lotto. Gary is married to Angelu de Leon as Brenda and they have a daughter, Isabelle, who’ll grow up to be Katrina Halili. Allan is married to Glydel Mercado as Luisa, and they have a daughter, Mayumi, who’ll grow up to be Megan Young.
When the home of Allan is razed by a fire, Gary offers his own home in a squatter’s area to be their temporary shelter. But both Angelu and daughter are very mean to Glydel and daughter. By a stroke of luck, Allan wins in the lotto but he quickly dies in a heart attack. Gary finds the winning ticket and claims the winnings for himself.
An injustice is committed when the big cash prize goes to Gary and his family instead of the widowed Glydel and her child who stay very poor. Gary invests the money in a line of beauty products and becomes very rich along with his daughter, Katrina Halili. Glydel’s daughter becomes Megan, a chemistry graduate who cooks up her own line of beauty products all made of organic materials. 
Megan and Katrina will cross paths once again and sparks fly as they don’t hesitate to show their dislike for each other. They not only compete with their beauty products line up but also for the attention of one man, Mikael as Francis. The scenes involving the poor and oppressed Glydel and her feisty young daughter will surely warm your hearts and you will root for them all the way. In contrast, you will hate Angelu and her daughter, who’s a born manipulator and liar, for making “api” to Glydel and later on, Megan. This is the first full directorial job for a teleserye by Paul Sta. Ana and he shows that he really knows the tropes and requirements of the genre to hook viewers to watch “The Stepdaughters” every afternoon. More complications occur when Gary and Glydel, both widowed, fall in love with each other, making Megan and Katrina as stepsisters who are so hostile to each other. Expect frequent catfights and slapping scenes between the lead characters as afternoon audiences just look forward and love watching this kind of violent altercations, just like the way they enjoy watching Sunshine Dizon and Ryza Cenon get very physical with each other in the mammoth hit that is “Ika-6 na Utos”.
