Abandoned by her globetrotting, schizophrenic, now deceased mother, TV Chef Nina Forsythe struggles over the disposition of the cremains while grappling with the belief she inherited this mental disorder.

SYNOPSIS:

Nina Forsythe is a mostly successful if also reluctant culinary cable TV host. Nina and Merced’s estranged mother Bitsy abandoned them when Nina was eighteen, Merced twenty-one. Big-boned and outfitted with Birkenstocks, backpack, and a significant dose of schizophrenia, Bitsy went on a 25-year world odyssey, logging her experiences in journals and taking pictures of feet. In the opening, she has inconveniently died at age 70 in Myanmar. Cremated, her ashes are boxed and shipped home. But the daughters don’t agree on a final resting place. Nina has a harder time dismissing this challenge.

Nina’s husband Jackson watches his wife obsess over diaries, photos, and what he views as a minor decision. He suggests a place Bitsy visited. A handful of the ashes are Ziploc-ed and accompany Nina and Jackson to Turkey.

Not an arbitrary choice, Istanbul was Bitsy’s first destination. There, she met a young girl Meline whose invalid mother was bound to a wheelchair. Aided by journal entries, Nina navigates the Grand Bazaar and locates the adult Meline.

Meline escorts Nina through the Basilica Cistern. Similar to her mother’s reactions, Nina is intrigued by the cool interior and the two Medusas that Meline came to name Nina and Merced. Meline shares gentle memories of Bitsy that conflict with Nina’s less generous recollections.

Jackson and Nina’s trip ends on a gulet that carries sixteen passengers into the quiet harbors of the Turquoise Coast. They privately comment on fellow passengers, explore ruins, swim, and reconnect.

Throughout the trip Nina casually scatters ashes. She has not thought through rituals or restrictions. At one point, Jackson provides a brief eulogy. As they prepare to depart, an airport baggage search foreshadows future challenges and threats.

Back home, Nina has a minor breakdown while filming the simple process of separating eggs. Bitsy’s writings are her anchor and passion as she desperately tries to understand her mother and herself. She reads about Miguel, a pilot who flew Bitsy, then in her fifties, to Machu Picchu. He also was her lover.

Nina plans a similar trip, to include Merced and her daughter Griffin. Jackson is present for the first half but has business commitments that bring him home prior to the Amazon.

The physical similarities between mother and daughter are undeniable. When their paths cross, Miguel recognizes in Nina the Bitsy he loved. Nina finds comfort in his stories and the knowledge that he (or anyone) could love Bitsy and make her happy.

On the banks of the Amazon, Griffin has an injury. She and her mother return to Los Angeles. Alone in the rainforest, Nina meets Finn Sweeney.

Something more than ashes is driving Nina. She finds it easier to reveal her worst fear – just as she shares Bitsy’s features, she fears she also inherited schizophrenia – with this stranger. Finn is comforting and understanding. This intimacy leads to a brief affair. She is capable of doing something that could compromise her family. Just like her mother did.

Nina returns home, eager yet anxious about seeing Jackson. Over the next few weeks she is clearly different. The tension comes to a head as Jackson confronts at dinner. “Something most certainly happened. Don’t lie. And don’t assume I don’t like the change. I don’t know that I want to know. Does that surprise you?”

The journals remain her touchstone. Nina learns about Claire, Bitsy’s contemporary who lived in Nairobi, and whom she knew and visited many times. (“…more sister than friend,” Bitsy wrote.) Merced and Griffin accompany Nina and “a bit of Bitsy” as Nina now refers to the ashes. Locating Claire is not as easy.

Griffin insists eulogies are in order. On safari, the sisters share childhood memories surrounded by wildlife and the beauty and dangers of Samburu, Lake Victoria, the Serengeti, and Ngorongoro Crater. Their relationship is tested as they accept who Bitsy was, and who they are.

Finally, Nina travels unaccompanied to Myanmar, replicating Bitsy’s final days, page by journal page. The journey is perilous and spiritual. While searching for a monk, just as Bitsy did, she befriends Wolf Rensleur, a priest questioning his vows.

Nina arranges passage to the dangerous city of Kengtung, her mother’s destination before she died. Nina is arrested. Alone in a tiny cell, she hears voices, real or otherwise, and experiences fear not unlike what Bitsy, absent concrete walls, confronted daily. Nina musters the strength that was a necessary part of Bitsy’s determination, and that has always been part of Nina.