For Signora Maria Ferraro, the sunflowers in the fields around Tuscany in summer carry bitter memories. Not even her cherished daughter, Anabella, knows what happened to her during World War II, when the Germans overran Florence. In the aftermath of loss and grief she found salvation through cultivating roses on her farm. Now the blossoms symbolize everything that is good and safe, and she nurtures them with as much care as she guards her past. Yet to Anabella, who longs for more, the rose farm has become little more than a pretty prison.