All through the night Serafina craves her husband’s return; at dawn, she learns he’s been shot dead. For the next three years, she channels her fiercely passionate love into mourning, living on past glories while straightjacketing her vivacious daughter, Rosa. But an ugly rumour gathers force to contaminate her memories, just as Rosa turns rebel and an eye-catching truck driver comes knocking on the door.

Set among the vibrant Sicilian community of New Orleans, Tennessee Williams’s life-affirming tale is charged with desire, infatuation and blazing southern sun.