In late 1940s Italy, a mother makes the difficult decision to send her son to the north, where he catches glimpses of a new life away from poverty.
India. Smita is an untouchable. She dreams of seeing her daughter escape her miserable condition and enter school. Italy. Giulia works in her father’s workshop. When he has an accident, she discovers that the family business is ruined. Canada. Sarah, a successful lawyer, is about to be promoted to the head of her firm when she learns that she is ill. Three lives, three women, three continents. Three battles to fight. Although they don’t know each other, Smita, Giulia and Sarah are unknowingly linked by their most intimate and singular bond.
Alex, a young mother, escapes an abusive relationship and takes a job cleaning houses to support her two-year-old daughter, Maddy. While striving for a better future, she navigates the complexities of government assistance, deals with a dysfunctional family that includes an estranged father and a mother who has bipolar disorder, and holds on to her dream of becoming a writer.