Artisan dressmaker, Caterina Mazzini, spends the day contemplating the intense love she feels for her partner, Barrett. Then she seduces a stranger in her own home! After a calamitous finale, she reflects wistfully upon her childhood in Salerno, Southern Italy, her old life in England, and the dramatic events which brought her six thousand miles from Berkshire to Johannesburg.

1982. A young Caterina gazes across the Tyrrhenian Sea; her spirit is stirred as she hold communion with the sea breeze. At college, her physics master, Professor Russo, teaches her about the white stork and the principles of flight. Out of school, she is taught about sex by Stefano, boyfriend of beautiful Juliana. Rina leaves Italy for the London suburbs and a career in aviation. She marries, but it isn't long before her airline pilot husband strays. Her revenge is sweetly twisted. After a return to single life, Caterina's world pivots during a near death experience. She meets Barrett and is smitten, but she cannot forsake her secret lover who she keeps hidden from everyone, even her best friend Emma. Rina juxtaposes the most important people in her life, and makes a plan which may resolve her complex situation.