Season 1

The Hotel has only been open a few weeks, but already the problems are mounting for Bella. She’s short of staff and money; her guests, including the imperious Lady Latchmere (Anna Chancellor), are demanding and hard-to-please; and she’s being targeted by a scheming and corrupt local politician, Signor Danioni (Pasquale Esposito), who threatens to drag her into the red-hot political cauldron of Mussolini’s Italy.

The Hotel demands all of Bella’s resources, energy, and focus, but she’s being pulled in other directions, as she tries to coax her wounded son, Lucian, and her widowed daughter, Alice, towards health and happiness in the traumatic aftermath of World War 1. And then there’s Bella’s aristocratic but caddish husband, Cecil, who’s obsessed with arranging an advantageous marriage for Lucian to secure the future of the Ainsworth family’s estate back in England, and with finding the money to pay for his dilettante lifestyle.

Season 2

Season 2 begins in the summer of 1927 as Bella is still devoting all her energy into making Hotel Portofino a success. Having overcome earlier blackmailing threats from a local politician, the hotel is finally starting to prosper.

Aside from her hotel duties, Bella is also concerned for her children — Lucian, whose marriage to Rose might be facing trouble, and Alice, who needs a break from her responsibilities at the hotel.

Season 3

Picking up in 1929, Bella is preparing for the arrival of her father and sister but is shocked when her husband returns unannounced and asks for a divorce.

Bella must also balance tensions with her estranged sister Amelia, a forbidden romance with local Italian Marco, the shocking return of her damaged son Lucian, as well as avoiding local fascist leader Danioni. But life gets even more complicated for Bella and Cecil when they learn of the Wall Street Crash. With Cecil having invested vast amounts of money, they suddenly realize they have lost almost everything.