Across the table: From her restaurant on Boston's Salem Street, and from her own kitchen, Rose Dante has served countless meals and built a tightly knit community of customers, family and friends. Her daughter Toni tried to create her own life, outside that circle--only to return with her daughter when her marriage failed. Now that Vanessa's nearly grown, Toni must face the bitterness of the past in order to taste the sweetness of the future. Dancing on Sunday afternoons: Cara has a busy life in Manhattan running her catering business and is looking forward to two weeks off with her family when she learns that her grandmother Giulia is in the hospital in Italy. The only one in the family who speaks Italian, Cara must go help. Her grandmother has always been an enigma to Cara, and Giulia's request for a cigar box perplexes her until she reads the old letters it contains. Cara learns about Giulia's small-town life in Italy and her journey to America, where she meets Paolo, the love of her life.