a serial drama program on television or on the radio, usually dealing with the daily lives of a group of people and often characterized by a focus on tangled relationships and exaggeratedly emotional or exciting events;
e.g. An episode of a soap opera will often have a suspenseful ending to keep viewers interested.
(noun)
the exaggerated emotion, excitement, and drama that is characteristic of soap opera programs, or a sequence of real-life events that resembles this sense;
e.g. The story of their relationship over the years has been a soap opera of friendship and enmity.