As season 2 of The Promised Life begins, things are looking up for the Rizzo family. Despite their losses, they seem to have found ‘the promised life’ in America: they have a new home and a new restaurant in New York City’s Little Italy. Maria (Francesca Di Maggio) and Alfio (Primo Reggiani) have just gotten married, having waited years after the suicide of Maria’s husband, Mosè (Flavio Furno). Antonio (Giuseppe Spata) is a free man after serving two years in prison for the shooting of Spanò (Francesco Arca), Alfredo (Vittorio Magazzù) is in love with a rich American woman and Rosa (Miriam Dalmazio) lives nearby, raising the son she had with Michele (Cristiano Caccamo). Carmela (Luisa Ranieri), the fierce matriarch who continues to put herself last when it comes to love, still thinks of Mr. Ferri, (Thomas Trabacchi) the kind Italian man she met on the ship coming to America.

While the merry wedding festivities for Maria and Alfio go on at the beginning of Season 2, she remembers a conversation she had with Mr. Ferri six years prior, just before he went to Europe on business.