American oil painter Charlotte Bolling travels to Venice, Italy for three months to study the architecture of the old city and paint. She meets Vincente Canaletto, an Italian man who owns a water taxi and gondola business. Charlotte ran away from home at age thirteen when her mother, who was a madam in a house of ill repute, offered Charlotte's virginity to the highest bidder. Vincente's son was abducted and Vincente's been on a quest to find him...