 In the Italian language, "respiro" means a "breathe".Grazia, played by Golino, is a free-spirited mother of three married to shy fisherman Pietro (Vincenzo Amato) and living on the idyllic but isolated island of Lampedusa in the Mediterranean Sea.She shows signs of manic depressive behaviour—one moment she's laughing wildly and swimming half-naked in the sea, while the next she's curled in a ball on her bed.