Millicent Milner is over 30 now but still floundering and in pain, still running away. So is her big sister, Geena.

Why? Everyone fawned over their suburban American parents. "You girls are so lucky! Such a charming mother you have! And that dynamic father!"

Geena – wickedly funny and outrageous – goes at it alone, slashing out brutal sculptures with a chainsaw. As she proclaims: "A scream made of wood shrieks forever."

Millicent is divorced and also alone, with seven-year-old Alice. She hates her 'stupid self' but clings to the image of her past, present and future as brightly glowing pink. With sex as her art form, she's certain that romance is her calling.

When an Italian lover offers Millicent a teaching job – in Rome – she buys one-way tickets for herself and Alice. Finally! The answer...

And off they go.