From Scratch follows the lives of Amy and Lino who, upon a chance meeting, fall in love and find inspiration in each other’s company.
Starring Zoe Saldana and Eugenio Mastrandea in the lead roles of Amy and Lino, From Scratch is a romantic drama based on the memoir of the same name by Tempi Locke. The drama follows Amy and Lino who meet during a phase of their lives when they are both trying to chase their true calling.
From Scratch Story Summary
Amy (Zoe Saldaña), a law student from Texas, is striving to find her place as a painter and decides to put her Law studies on hold for a six-week Art program in Florence.
She has a chance encounter with Lino (Eugenio Mastrandrea) as they bump into each other on the street. He is a Sicilian chef who hopes to own his own restaurant one day. Sparks fly when they meet again and they immediately feel a connection as they have similar trajectories in their artistic endeavors and have disapproving fathers.
Amy tries to deny the obvious attraction she feels for Lino. She briefly dates a gallery owner, Giancarlo. Lino’s passion for cooking is evident when Amy and her friends taste the delicious Italian dishes at the restaurant where he works as a chef.
Realizing that she can’t deny her feelings for Lino anymore, Amy breaks up with Giancarlo. The art program comes to an end, and it’s time for Amy to leave Florence. She tells Lino that she’ll be waiting for him and falls asleep while waiting in the apartment. When she wakes up and sees Lino waiting outside her apartment for her in the rain, both of them accept their feelings for each other. They decide to pursue the relationship long-distance.
Fast forward to two years later in 2002, Amy and Lino are living with Zora (Danielle Deadwyler), Amy’s sister, as both try to make ends meet. Amy progresses as an artist while Lino is struggling as a chef in L.A. at a local Italian kitchen. His dream of owning a restaurant now seems to be a distant dream.
Thanksgiving dinner with Amy’s family leads to awkward and difficult conversations. Cross-cultural differences between the couple come to the surface. The two discover that their cultural differences pose a hurdle in their relationship.
Lino feels a lack of connection with L.A. as well as with Amy’s family. He is homesick, finding it hard to form a connection with Amy’s hometown and culture. To cheer Lino up, Amy takes him to a Sicilian sports bar. Lino realizes how deep his bond with Amy is. They form a solid connection despite the cross-cultural differences between them. Amy proposes to him and he says yes. Lino breaks the news to his family, but his father calls him a disgrace. This harsh reaction from his father to the news of Amy and Lino’s engagement puts a damper on their spirits.
18 months later, conquering their cultural differences, Amy and Lino are getting married. Giacomo, Lino’s father, is against their marriage and stops Lino’s mother Filomena (Lucia Sardo) and sister Biagia from attending Lino’s wedding. They somehow make it right after Lino and Amy’s wedding just before they are leaving for their honeymoon.
Lino is disappointed as he had never imagined getting married without his family’s presence. Hershel, Amy’s father, helps Lino deal with the situation. This warms Lino’s heart and he feels he has been accepted with open arms into Amy’s family.
From Scratch Ending Explained
It’s the fall of 2004, Lino and Amy are happily married and going after their artistic dreams. It turns out that life is not at all a bed of roses for the couple as fate has something else in store. They find out that Lino has cancer.
Struck with the tragedy, they grapple with the reality of how Lino’s cancer is going to change their lives forever. His chemotherapy begins and they also have to face the uncomfortable truths of the effects of his cancer which includes not being able to have children. They decide to keep Lino’s cancer a secret from Amy’s family. But when Lino collapses while Zora was visiting, everyone finds out about Lino’s condition.
Did Lino Survive Cancer?
On hearing the news of Lino’s cancer diagnosis, his family visits him. Lino sees an altogether different side of Giacomo, his father. Giacomo loves his son and can’t bear the thought of his suffering. Lino undergoes surgery after which Giacomo calls him his son – something which he refused to do earlier.
The surgery is successful and Lino recovers. Lino and Amy adopt a daughter, Idalia. Idalia has a happy home. They spend wonderful times together. Seven years pass by and cancer affects Lino once again, this time attacking his lungs, leaving no room for bouncing back to live a normal life. The families find out and help the couple to get through the difficult phase.
After a painfully excruciating process of finding doctors and treatment, they decide to put Lino on palliative care. Knowing that his cancer is incurable, they opt to let him spend the rest of his days with his family. After spending an evening with his loved ones and saying emotional goodbyes to Idalia and Amy, Lino succumbs to cancer.
Does Amy Recover From Lino’s Death?
Amy is heartbroken as she grapples with the reality of the tragic death of her husband. Her family stands by her in dealing with the terrible loss. Idalia is healing too with strong emotional support from the families. Amy finds the courage to go to Italy with Idalia because she had promised Lino to take his ashes to his hometown.
Amy is stuck in a dilemma when Filomena tells her that Amy is getting Lino’s house in Sicily. But Amy isn’t sure about moving there. Filomena, on the other hand, wants Castelleone to feel like home for Amy. Amy is aware that, in spite of losing the love of her life to cancer, her love for him prevails.
While trying to heal Idalia’s pain, Amy feels Lino’s presence. Idalia also feels a strong connection to her father’s hometown. Filomena’s words and the connection that Lino felt for his homeland slowly make their way into Amy’s heart and she promises Filomena she would come back to Sicily and sign the documents of the house.
Amy realizes that it is essential to move forward in life. In a symbolic gesture of her moving forward in life, she removes the locket in which she had kept a pinch of Lino’s ashes and blows it away on a farm in Sicily, thanking Lino for the beautiful memories he left her with.
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