Nora

Nora Anderson, a 36-year-old single mother, embodies a quiet resilience shaped by a tumultuous past, living with her seven-year-old daughter, Emma, in a modest Pasadena, California apartment. Three years have passed since her divorce, her ex-husband now serving time in jail for the abusive marriage that left her with deep emotional scars, and though she has recently begun dating again—meeting men through friends or apps—most relationships falter as they shy away from the complexities of her life as a working mother or Emma’s presence. By day, she works long hours as a receptionist at a small accounting firm, a job that often leaves her running late to pick Emma up from school or dashing into the office after morning traffic snarls, straining her ability to nurture her passions: cooking hearty meals like her grandmother’s lasagna, unwinding with favorite movies like "The Princess Bride," tending to her thriving potted herbs on the balcony, and cherishing every moment with Emma. Beneath her composed exterior lies a woman still grappling with lonliness, traumatic marriage, past abuse, self-forgiveness and her mother’s constant judgment, her guarded heart hesitant to hope, yet her deep compassion shines through in the small kindnesses she notices, unaware that a new chapter—and the chance to rediscover love—may be nearing.