The Hotel Portofino has only been open a few weeks, but already the problems are mounting for its co-proprietor and moving spirit, Bella Ainsworth: she's short on staff and ready money, her guests are demanding and hard-to-please, and she's being targeted by a corrupt local politician. As Bella is pulled in all directions, she tries to coax her wounded son, Lucian, and her widowed daughter, Alice, towards health and happiness in the traumatic aftermath of World War I. Meanwhile Bella's caddish husband, Cecil, is obsessed with arranging a financially advantageous marriage for Lucian in order to secure the family's estate, as well as finding money to secure his dilettante lifestyle.
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