 Lucy Harmon is a 19-year old American girl who is the daughter of poet Sara Harmon. After Sara commits suicide, Lucy travels to Italty and visits her mother s friends, Diana and her husband, Irish artist Ian, where Lucy wants a picture of her painted. Lucy decided to return to Italy to reunite with Nicolo Donati, a Italian boy she once fell in love with four years ago, when she last visited Italy. But reuniting with Nicolo isn t the only reason why Lucy decided to return to Italy, Lucy is on a personal journey, as she sets out to solve a mystery in her Mother s diary and discover who her father is who conceived her 20 years ago. Lucy s journey leads her to befriend Alex, a play-writer who is dying of cancer whom Lucy thinks may be her father or her father could be the artist who makes statutes from trees and sets out to loose her virginity as Diana and her daughter Miranda s boyfriend Richard become intrigued by her.