Genova 2008

Following the death of his wife in a car accident, Joe Colin Firth relocates to Genova to teach English literature at a university. He is joined by his two daughters, 16-year-old Kelly Willa Holland and 10-year-old Mary Perla Haney-Jardine, and the trio settles into a crowded flat on Genova’s busy streets. They quickly adjust to the local pace of life, savoring sun-drenched beach days and hiring a local tutor to help with musical composition, a hobby that Mary, in particular, seems to approach with quiet curiosity.

Kelly falls for a local Italian teenage boy and begins dating him in secret, keeping the relationship away from her father’s notice. Mary, meanwhile, stays closely tied to her father, still processing the trauma of their loss; she carries the weight of guilt, since she was directly involved in the accident and remains haunted by the memory of that day. The family’s new life in Genova is buffered by small, shared moments—meals that stretch into the evening, language exchanges, and the ordinary challenges of adapting to a foreign city.

Joe, though he finds moments of happiness in this fresh start, must navigate the balancing act of being a single parent while his own heart begins to re-open. His social circle widens in surprising ways: Barbara Catherine Keener, a university colleague with whom he once shared a brief romance back at Harvard, moves into a more active role. She offers help with translation and daily needs but gradually intrudes deeper into the family’s private life, testing boundaries and trust. Another potential romantic interest emerges in a brash and idealistic Italian student in his literature class, a figure who makes her intentions unmistakably clear.

As tensions rise, Joe arranges a lunch with the Italian student, a move that sidesteps Barbara and stirs subtle unease about boundaries and loyalty within the family. Kelly’s budding romance collides with the realities of being a teenager far from home, and a conflict with her Italian boyfriend forces her to hitch a ride home from the beach, underscoring the fragility and resilience of their new life. Mary’s fragile world is tested when she is left to walk home alone after the beach incident; in the midst of traffic, she glimpses an apparition of her late mother crossing a busy intersection, an eerie moment that triggers another car crash and nearly takes her life.

Despite the turbulence, the story moves toward a hopeful turning point. The two sisters begin their studies at a local Italian secondary school, signaling a willingness to embrace a future in Genova and to grow as a family in this new setting. Through grief, adaptation, and the slow rebuilding of trust, the family learns to navigate love, memory, and the demands of daily life in a city that becomes their new home.