In the 1920s, Englishwoman Bella Ainsworth opens a hotel in the picturesque town of Portofino on the idyllic Italian coast. She tries to give her family a new start in a situation where her relationship with her husband is in crisis, the younger son has died and the older one has returned from the war with injuries. Bella has high hopes for the new hotel, but she has to deal with many personal and operational difficulties, and everything is affected by the harsh onset of Italian fascism and the extortion of local fascist politician Danioni.