My Brilliant Friend

Elena and Pietro meet Nino's family. Nino gives Elena his feedback on the manuscript, when he discovers that Pietro has not read it he shows hostility towards her, but in a veiled and underhanded way. Pietro's reaction to Nino's passive-aggressive attacks only confirms Elena's doubts about her husband.

Elena's marriage is more and more in crisis, Pietro is distant and she feels treated like a servant. One day, Nino Sarratore shows up at the Airota's door. He and Pietro become friends and say goodbye with the promise to meet again. Elena anxiously awaits their next meeting and finally resumes writing.

On holiday, little Gennaro often quarrels with Elena's daughters, she remains tolerant until she catches them playing doctor. In a phone call with Lila, Elena learns that her sister Elisa is dating Marcello Solara. Baffled, she travels to Naples to discuss the matter with her in person.

Elena embraces the feminist cause and has a disagreement with Pietro about it. Pasquale and Nadia arrive unexpectedly at Elena's home in Florence. They are dirty, rude, and neglected. Pasquale relates to Pietro with hostility. After their departure Pietro and Elena quarrel: he doesn't want something like that to happen again.

Elena and Lila face difficulties obtaining prescriptions for the contraceptive pill. Adele surprises Elena with an unexpected reception on her wedding day.

Lila's health is getting worse; her job at the Soccavo plant is burning her out. Elena asks her in-laws to help out; they encourage her to write an expos� to the papers, which ends up stirring up tensions in the unions.

At her book presentation in Milan, Elena unexpectedly meets Nino. At dinner she realises her infatuation for him has never abandoned her and begins to have doubts on her fianc� Pietro.

Elena graduates university, meets a man from a nice family and returns to Naples. When she returns home she is told that Lila left home with her son. While in Pisa Elena wrote a novel based on her life.

Elena enjoys her life as a student in Pisa. When she is sick she reads the notebooks Lila gave her during her visit to Naples, and learns what Lila has gone through during the years.

Following the vacation in Ischia Elena disconnects from Lila and Nino. Lila decides she cannot go on with her life, so she leaves Stefano and moves in with Nino. Elena travels to Pisa for her university studies. Antonio returns broken from him military service and looks for work.

Lila and Nino get dangerously close to each other during the summer vacation in Ischia. This breaks Lenu's heart, feeling twice betrayed.

On Lila's request, Lenu joins her and Pinuccia at Ischia for the summer. They meet Nino Sarratore, and both are attracted to him.

Lila continues to hold a grudge against Stefano as the shoe shop opens and she goes to work at his new grocery store; Elena brings Lila to a party at her teacher's home.

Antonio is mad as Lenu for trying to stop his draft to the army. Stefano hits Lila and opens his heart to Lenu. Lila is mad at Lenu for trying to reconcile Stefano and her.

Lenu and Lila continue their lives in different path: Lila works in the show store and Elena returns to school.

The shoe sales are slow, so Stefano makes a deal with the Solares despite Lila's objections. Elena is thrown out of class for expressing her mind, she writes an article about that. Lila's wedding day arrives.

Elena returns to Naples and finds out that Lila is romantically involved with Stefano, despite Marcello's advances. While Lila embraces that luxurious lifestyle Elena decides to reciprocate romantic advances.

On the island of Ischia, Elena runs into the Sarratore family, reigniting her childhood crush on Nino; Lila's resistance to Marcello's pressing courtship reaches a breaking point; an unexpected encounter leaves Elena shaken on her 15th birthday.

Elena grows tired of Gino, while Lila rejects two potential suitors at a cost; a rare outing into the city turns violent; Elena worries about not being there for Lila after accepting an invitation to spend the summer away from the neighborhood.

Elena enters high school as Lila ignores her many suitors.

Now teens, Elena and Lila struggle to connect as their futures diverge.

Elena and Lila fight to continue their education; a death changes things in the neighborhood forever.

The disappearance of her old friend, Lila Cerrullo, causes 60-year-old author Elena Greco to reflect on the early days of their friendship in 1950s Naples, when Elena and Lila are two very different girls at the top of their class. When the girls discover the underground lair of Don Achille, a criminal figure who controls the neighborhood, they decide to confront him, facing their fears together and laying the cornerstone of a lasting friendship and rivalry.