Loretta Castorini, an Italian-American widow with a steady job as a bookkeeper, lives in Brooklyn Heights surrounded by her parents, Cosmo and Rose, and her paternal grandfather. She agrees to marry Johnny Cammareri, his proposal arriving just before he leaves for Sicily to care for his ailing mother. Loretta accepts the engagement, guided by a careful adherence to tradition, convinced that ignoring ritual may have doomed her first marriage years earlier.
Johnny asks Loretta to invite his estranged younger brother, Ronny, to the wedding, a request that unsettles Loretta since Johnny and Ronny have not spoken in five years. Upon returning home, she shares the news with her family, while Cosmo, who runs a thriving plumbing business, is openly wary of Johnny and reluctant to fund a wedding that seems built more on convenience than romance. Rose offers a blunt, loving perspective: true love can be perilous and sometimes hurts those involved, yet it remains a powerful force worth pursuing.
At Ronny’s bakery, Loretta learns about his wooden prosthetic hand—a souvenir of a past accident—caused when he caught his hand in a bread slicer while talking with Johnny. Ronny’s fiancée had left him, and Loretta’s curiosity leads to a private, revelatory conversation between them. After sharing a meal and several drinks, Loretta reluctantly compares Ronny to a wolf that would gnaw off its paw to escape a trap, and Ronny’s reaction turns volatile and passionate. The moment culminates in a kiss, and before she realizes it, Loretta finds herself returning it. The pair are drawn to one another and end up sharing a night of intimacy.
That same evening, the family gathers for dinner at the Castorini home, where lingering questions about Loretta’s infidelity surface. The next morning, guilt weighs heavily on Loretta, but Ronny promises discretion if she attends a performance of La bohème at the Metropolitan Opera with him. After confession at church, Loretta bursts into a spontaneous shopping spree for an elegant gown and accessories, moved by the beauty of the opera she’s about to experience.
Leaving the opera, Loretta confronts Cosmo, who arrives with his mistress Mona, and the tension between duty and desire comes into sharp relief. Cosmo suggests keeping their affair a secret, a notion Loretta rejects as untenable. A second, urgent temptation follows when Ronny persuades her into another clandestine encounter that same night, intensifying the emotional tangle. Meanwhile, Rose dines alone and shows warmth toward a college professor named Perry, whom she meets after an affectionate, pitying moment.
Johnny unexpectedly returns from Sicily after his mother’s “miraculous” recovery and confronts Rose about their relationship. They discuss the nature of pursuit and fear, recognizing that men often chase after women to avoid the threat of loss. Back at home, Loretta steels herself for the truth about her fiancé’s plans. Ronny arrives for breakfast the next morning, followed by Cosmo and the grandfather, who press Cosmo to commit to Loretta’s wedding. Rose confronts Cosmo about his affair, and, moved by love, he agrees to end it and to join the family in prayer and confession, reaffirming his love for Rose.
Later, Raymond and Rita arrive, anxious about Loretta’s recent bank deposit and relieved to learn she merely forgot the money. When Johnny finally shows up, he abruptly breaks off the engagement, convinced that their marriage would bring misfortune to his mother. Loretta’s rebuke is pointed as she rejects his broken promise. In a symbolic turn, Ronny borrows Johnny’s ring and asks Loretta to marry him, a proposal she accepts. The family raises their glasses in a toast to the couple, and even Johnny joins in, newly invited to be part of the family after all.
