The story follows Melek, a poor maid who fell in love with Kenan, the firstborn of the Emiroğlu family, whom she worked for. Kenan also fell in love with her, but Kenan's mother did not approve her son's relationship and sent the pregnant girl Melek away from him. The young maid believed that Kenan had abandoned her and he never knew of her pregnancy. Their daughter, Elif, is born while her father marries another woman, Arzu.
Melek begins a relationship with Veysel, a mean man, a violent gambler who intends to sell little Elif to pay his gambling debts. The young mother decides to save her daughter and hands her over to the care of Ayşe, one of the maids of the Emiroğlu mansion.
The show ran for five seasons, from 2014 to 2019 consisting of 940 episodes.
Elif contains examples of the following tropes:
- Abusive Parents: Veysel is Elif's stepfather, but he's very abusive to her and eager to resort to child trafficking her to pay his gambling debts. He is also an abusive dad to his biological daughter Zeynep.
- Bald of Evil: Erkut, a terrifyingly dangerous yet affable gentleman.
- Betty and Veronica:
- Melek (Betty), Arzu (Veronica) and Kenan (Archie).
- Selim (Betty), Erkut (Veronica) and Zeynep (Archie).
- Reyhan (before she is Put on a Bus) and later Asli (Betty), Parla (Veronica) and Kerem (Archie).
- Julide (Betty), Alev (Veronica) and Safak (Archie).
- Safak (Betty), Tufan (Veronica) and Julide (Archie).
- Big Bad Ensemble: Arzu, Veysel, Erkut, Tarik, Rana and Kiymet are the main villains of the show, all willing to go to extreme lenghts to eliminate Elif and Melek, not even caring about the consequences of their actions.
- Crocodile Tears: After Kiymet murders Macide and injures Kerem, she cries tears of this pathetically begging Mahir to not let her be arrested and that they can start over as a family, and that no one has to find out what she has done. However, Mahir is having none of her bullshit and just leaves her to face the consequences.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Kiymet, only after her revenge spree against Macide goes too far, to the point of abusing Elif for no reason at all, and murdering Macide and injuring Kerem, all without the tiniest shred of remorse.
- Put on a Bus: Most of the original characters introduced in season 1 (the Emiroğlus in particular), left after season 3, leaving only Elif and Melek.
- Put on a Prison Bus: Tarik and Kiymet are arrested in each of their respective seasons. Tarik both for his attempted murder on Elif upon finding out she was the heir of the Haktanir family fortune (which came from Melek marrying Macide's nephew Yusuf) and embezzling from his company. On the other hand, Kiymet gets arrested for all the crimes that Melek was framed for, as well as murdering her own sister Macide and wounding her nephew Kerem. It is later revealed that Tarik died in jail at the hands of the inmates.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: In season 5, Kerem and Emirhan. Kerem because he believes Melek to be guilty for attempting to murder Macide, when it was Kiymet who commited the crime, while Emirhan is manipulated by his abusive birth father Tufan into behaving like a brat to Julide and Safak.
- Took a Level in Kindness: In season 4, Hümeyra started off as a despicable wealthy married woman and even had every chance to display emotional hatred towards the innocent Elif (who was brought to he Haktanir mansion against her will), almost exactly like Arzu did, even encouraging her brother Kerem to date Parla (as if she was her sister-in-law ahead of marriage), who is just as mean. Her husband Tarik is no better, either. But by season 5, she is much more comprehensive and kind, to the point of supporting Elif when Melek is wrongly framed for a crime she didn't commit, although not initially suspecting her aunt Kiymet to be responsible. And she no longer wants to have anything to do with Tarik.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: In the finale, it becomes unclear what happened to Rana after Kiymet threatened her at gunpoint as she was last seen fleeing the Haktanir mansion, never to be seen again. This also makes her the only antagonist to fall into Karma Houdini territory.
- Would Hurt a Child: The villainous characters all have no problem attempting to either harm, kidnap or kill Elif for their own benefit.
