How to Break Your Own Heart

Ash has just got divorced from the caring, sweet, endlessly reasonable husband she may secretly still be half in love with. The reasons why she wanted to drive him away are not clear, even to herself. But her days are busy. She has moved in to the New York apartment of her ageing parents to help care for them, especially her mother who is fading fast. Quirky, downright stubborn and often infuriating, Ash's parents are also delightful in their strange ways and their love for each other and Ash realises this time with them both is precious.

Intercut with this everyday life of care are Ash's memories of her first full-on sexual relationship at the age of seventeen, when she fell hook line and sinker for Luca. Their relationship bordered on the obsessive and revolved around their sexual awakening and experimentation. Their bond seemed unbreakable, yet clearly something went wrong.

So what happens, almost forty years later, when Luca - now a male nurse assigned to her mother's care - walks through the door of their New York apartment? Can your first love also be your last?