Rosamunde Pilcher: Das Vermächtnis unseres Vaters (2018)

Iris is a young woman who lives in London, works for a software company, and is engaged to Marc. Her life is peaceful, at least until she receives a letter from Cornwall, sent by a woman named Greta, inviting her to visit. Greta hopes Iris can track down her father John’s former lover, since John has recently passed away, so that she can give the woman the yacht he left her in his will. Although Iris is surprised by this unusual request, she decides to accept, partly because she dislikes her job and sees the trip as an excuse to pursue her dream of becoming a reporter. When she arrives at Greta’s home, she discovers that Greta is her age, seriously ill, and being cared for by her stepmother Maura and stepbrother Patrick, Maura’s only child from her first marriage. Maura was John’s second wife and now lives with her partner Timothy, a former athlete who is with her mainly because of the inheritance John left her. Because of her poor health, Greta dies soon after meeting Iris. Iris wants to honor Greta’s wishes and find John’s former lover so she can give her the yacht, the Sea Breeze. She discovers that the woman is actually her own mother, Fiona. Iris now understands that John was her father and Greta her half-sister. Greta had chosen not to tell her, leaving Iris to discover the truth for herself. Iris begins spending time with Patrick, who was very attached to John—so much so that he gave up his own career to take over his stepfather’s independent radio station. Before long, what began as a friendship between Patrick and Iris turns into love. Patrick is going through a difficult time: he is working to oppose an oil company that wants to extract oil from the sea near the coast, disregarding the terrible environmental impact this would have. Fiona comes to Cornwall to see Iris and explains that John was trapped in an unhappy marriage. They had been lovers, but when Fiona discovered she was pregnant, she left him, partly because John did not have the courage to take a stand and leave his wife, who was expecting Greta. Fiona did not want to live in the shadows, limited to being just his mistress. Iris shows her all the letters John had written and sent to Fiona, but Fiona had never read them; she always sent them back. Had she read them, she would have discovered that John’s wife died two years after Fiona left him, and that John had wanted to be with Fiona and welcome her and Iris into his family. Fiona, however, does not regret ignoring him. She had completely fallen out of love with him and is happy with her new partner. John had not fought to save their love, and she does not intend to accept the yacht either. Iris decides to help Patrick with his investigation into the oil company. Meanwhile, Marc arrives in Cornwall. After learning that John was Iris’s father, he sees an opportunity to claim the man’s estate, believing Iris should assert her rights as the deceased man’s only child. He warns Maura, brazenly making it clear that he will do everything he can to use Iris to gain control of John’s inheritance. Maura, in fact, had always known that Iris existed. Disgusted by Marc’s greed, Iris decides to leave him, explaining to Maura that she has nothing to fear and that Iris does not wish to challenge the division of the inheritance. Patrick punches Timothy, who had tried to ruin the radio station by driving away its sponsors. Timothy feared that if Patrick continued fighting the oil company, it would eventually sue him, and he did not want Maura’s money to be spent on possible legal fees. Maura decides to leave Timothy and throws him out of the house. She is also willing to share her husband’s estate with Iris, and together they decide to invest it in the radio station. For now, thanks to Patrick’s petition drive, the oil company gives up on building its drilling platform. Patrick and Iris are finally a couple, and Iris holds Greta dear in her memory, because only thanks to her sister can she now live a happy life.