A week before Juliana is married on a beach in Carmel California, her beloved Nona, Alessandra a famous artist, is buried. One week later, her beloved boyfriend, Nate returns to proclaim his love and agony over leaving her. Juliana's marriage was not exactly conventional. She did not marry Sam for love—but rather to keep her friend from being booted back to Israel as well as to silence her haranguing father, who thought all women with children should be wed. Juliana, a bright and beautiful single mother and registered nurse, yearns to pursue her art full time. Both her daughter Louisa and her best friend, Agnes, believe Nate a lying loser who does not deserve a second chance. Over time, Sam falls in romantic love with Juliana who is frantically preparing for her first art show while working and juggling incredible sex with Nate. Juliana and her highly emotional mother, Isabella, fly back to Italy to discover a door that neither of them knew existed—a place where artists paint like reckless lovers, a place where Juliana discovers the truth.
