Adagio

London, 1950s.

Rose Kovachi wants nothing more than to forget. She wants to forget the war, the concentration camps, the mysterious violin her brother gave to her before he died. She wants to forget her poverty-stricken family, her Romani heritage. But most of all, she wants to forget her future and the expectations that come with it, including finding a respectable job or a husband to provide for her family.

When she meets Ruben Faust, an upper-class German who recognizes her beloved Pedrazzini violin, Rose realizes he might be her ticket to escape. Despite her prejudices and her irritation with his nonchalant and snarky demeanor, she decides to follow him across Europe as they search for the violin's original owner. After all, it seems like the perfect opportunity to leave her own family and her pre-planned future behind.

But as Rose is forced to confront her painful past, she begins to realize running away might not be so easy. She soon discovers that Ruben is in far more trouble than she ever thought and that her family is falling apart in her absence. Rose is determined to save them and get what she wants, for it seems the only way to forgive herself for failing to save her brother from the war.

Yet Rose soon realizes that she can't have it both ways. But was scares her the most is the fear that nothing she does will ever be able to repair the past.