After the sudden death of their father Giuseppe, a manipulative and authoritarian patriarch, three estranged siblings — Daphne, a 40-year-old publicist preparing for a new life in the U.S.; Ludovico, a closeted writer who hides behind a pseudonym; and Alberto, an eternal student with dreams of opening a flower shop — return to their childhood home in Ascoli Piceno.
The family’s greenhouse, where their mother’s ashes were scattered beneath a lemon tree, becomes the claustrophobic stage for the reunion. Old wounds reopen, and long-suppressed emotions resurface. Among them arrives Alejandro, their late father’s former apprentice and father figure’s protégé, now a successful man returning from Tenerife. His presence reignites unresolved tensions — and forgotten love. Years ago, Alejandro and Daphne had an affair, abruptly ended when Giuseppe forced Daphne to terminate an unwanted pregnancy without Alejandro’s knowledge.
When the siblings learn from the will that the greenhouse cannot be sold or divided because of their mother’s ashes, their conflicting desires collide. Grief, guilt, and resentment lead to a series of explosive confrontations. Ludovico, suffocated by the provincial hypocrisy that has long forced him to hide, decides to burn his novel and embrace his true self. Daphne, in turn, discovers a hidden letter revealing that Alejandro is in fact Giuseppe’s illegitimate son — born from an affair with a woman who secretly funded the greenhouse.
Overwhelmed by the weight of their shared past, the siblings choose to burn down the greenhouse — the ultimate symbol of their father’s control — as an act of liberation. Amid the flames, they save only the lemon tree, a fragile emblem of memory and purity.
The next morning, Alejandro returns to find the place reduced to ashes. Among the ruins lies a box containing the letter from his mother — and the truth about his bloodline. Everything that was once hidden has burned away.
Only the lemon tree remains, alive — the last witness to their rebirth.