Mary is isolated and alone on the family vacation to Italy, as her older sister Marcia and their babysitter Alicia spend all their time together. She is jealous of Alicia, who is older and beautiful, and has stolen her sister's friendship and attention from her. As the family takes trips through Italy, she grows further annoyed with the pair, who always giggle together. One day, she walks in on Alicia and Marcia having a threesome with an older man, the landscaper from down the road, whose wife had just had a baby. To keep her from telling, Alicia kisses Mary on the lips, a kiss that Mary thinks about with a mixture of curiosity and desire over the next few days. In the car on the way to the next location, Mary sees Alicia and Marcia holding hands. When they reach the apartment, their parents take off, and Marcia tells Mary that their parents will get a divorce. Upset, Mary steals the car and tries to drive, even though she isn't old enough to and doesn't know how. She finds it fairly easy, though nerve wracking, and gets back before anyone notices. Later, the girls get dropped off at an old man's house in the countryside while their parents go off again. Alicia and Marcia volunteer to walk to the store, leaving Mary alone with the man. The man gets Mary very drunk on wine, makes advances towards her, and assaults her when he reaches his hand under her skirt, at which Mary runs away. Another time, the parents go to Rome, and leave the girls with the car to fend for themselves. They drive around all day and have adventures at first, but then get lost and lose things, like the car keys. By this point Mary is tired and miserable—they haven't slept all night and they are still lost, kicking around in a random cemetery. Mary overhears Marcia crying, then sees her and Alicia kiss. Later, things are different—Alicia is less vivacious, and Marcia has turned cold as well. They go back home, though their mother stays back for a week to finish business in Rome. Back home, life returns to normal. Their parents don't get a divorce, and everything seems normal. Mary reconnects with her friends and returns to school, though she often recalls their trip in Italy. When Marcia and Alicia had found her, as she threw up and cried after she ran from that old man's house, Alicia had hugged her and cried with her in sympathy. Mary feels a little different after that trip—she's grown up a little bit, and she feels "a kind of nostalgia for the future."