Twilight Fires

Gabrielle, a young French woman, who is studying art history at the Sorbonne and Paul, an aspiring American attorney, meet and fall in love in Paris. They settle in Baltimore, where Paul joins a law firm. Needing room for a growing family, they are offered the opportunity to renovate an old carriage house. Together, they also turn an overgrown patch of land into a beautiful garden, modeled in part after a painting by Monet.

After Paul 's sudden death, Gabrielle, now in the twilight of her life, is resigned to living on her own, looking only to family and a small circle of friends for companionship. Grieving, she loses herself in memories of her childhood during WWII where, being half-Jewish, she had to hide in plain sight, of her return to post-war Paris and of her whirlwind courtship. A grandchild shares the excitement and pain of an early love, which brings back long-suppressed memories of a forbidden love of her own. And while struggling to maintain a property that is too large for her to manage, she is reminded at every turn of the ups and downs of her life with Paul.

Hoping to alleviate this burden, a close friend sends her Leila, her own garden architect, who is coping with a loss of her own. Her remit is to find ways to simplify the upkeep of the property, so Gabrielle can stay in her home. As they transform the garden, the two women develop a deepening bond. Her friend also tries to bring Gabrielle out of her self-imposed social isolation by introducing her to Bob, a widowed physician and world traveler, who shares Gabrielle's interest in art, thus unwittingly setting up a rivalry of new relationships.
To escape the pull of the past and accept that she might have a future after all, Gabrielle has to open herself up to a transformation of her own. Will she dare to open her heart one last time and reach for a new beginning?