Synopsis, Becoming Mariella Sicily, 2000. MARIELLA RUSSO graduates university. Desperate to escape Sicily, she is pressured into an engagement with MATTEO, the scion of a wealthy, powerful family. Her controlling and envious mother, YOLANDA, is determined that nothing will stop the wedding. \tMamma announces the engagement at Mariella’s and Matteo’s graduation dinner. Mariella storms out, declaring that she won't get married. \tWith the help of her NONNA, Mariella flees to San Francisco. Her roommate, LESLIE, is a gay man, rather than the woman she expected. \tWith Leslie's help, Mariella secures a job at an Italian restaurant, Basilico. She becomes lovers with GIOVANNI, the owner, old enough to be her father. He falls in love. She doesn’t. Mamma makes an unexpected appearance to lure Mariella back to Sicily. When Mariella refuses, Mamma calculatedly overdoses on sleeping pills, is hospitalized, survives, and flies home. \tLeslie and Mariella’s bond deepens when Leslie's lover manipulates and lies to him about everything, as Mamma has manipulated Mariella. \tThe news that her brother OLIMPIO, and Matteo’s 18-year-old sister are marrying, sends Mariella back to Sicily. \tLeslie goes with her. At the reception, Mamma has a humiliating meltdown. Mariella encounters Matteo in an upstairs bathroom. In the intensity of emotion, he rips her dress. They cry together and make love. She's never stopped loving him. Still, she insists she can’t stay in Sicily. \tMariella persuades Mamma to cook the Sunday ragu, jointly, as they always did, and finds that things feel lighter between them. Mariella's no longer afraid of her mother’s crazy insults and bitterness, and wonders if her independence has created something new in the ether. Or, has Mamma changed? Papa is also more his own man. \tAs Mariella and Leslie’s plane arcs into the sky, back to San Francisco, she’s still on uncharted ground. But, now, she belongs to herself. She anticipates, finally, the possibility of joy.