Lucy Harmon, a nineteen-year-old American, is the daughter of well-known (now deceased) poet and model, Sara Harmon. The film opens as Lucy arrives for a vacation at the Tuscany villa of Sara's old friends, Ian and Diana Grayson (played by Donal McCann and Cusack, respectively). Other guests include a prominent New York art gallery owner, an Italian advice columnist and an English writer, Alex Parrish (Irons), who is dying of an unspecified disease. Lucy goes for a swim, and finds that Diana's daughter from a previous marriage, Miranda Fox (Weisz), is also there with her boyfriend, entertainment lawyer Richard Reed (D. W. Moffett). Miranda's brother, Christopher (Fiennes), is supposed to be there, but he is off on a road trip with the Italian son of a neighboring villa, Niccoló Donati (Roberto Zibetti). Lucy was particularly hoping to see Niccoló, whom she had met on a previous visit to the villa, four years earlier, and who was the first boy she'd ever kissed. Lucy and Niccoló had briefly exchanged letters after this first visit. One letter in particular Lucy had admired so much she memorized it.