Carolina Costandini is a first generation Italian-American living in Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania-just outside of Pittsburgh-in the mid-1920s. As the only daughter in the family, she finds herself in a traditional role of cook and maid-a role she longs to escape. Her brothers attend school and work, but her own education ended at fifth grade.

The Italian neighborhood that she lives in is full of characters with complicated lives inevitably intersecting.

Sara is a middle age woman, a dear friend of the family, who is persecuted by an abusive husband, Luca Vassari.

Angelo Marchetti is the...