When The Moon Hits Your Eye
1968. Trenton, N.J. 18-year-old Matteo, 30-year-old Sister Lucy, and college-girl Ruth Ann become enmeshed in a fervid love triangle while seemingly under the spell of the art of the great Caravaggio.
Matteo Inanuzzio hadn't been in the U.S. long before he was bitten by a deadly spider and rushed to the hospital where Sister Lucy nurses him back to health. As Matteo recovers, he can't fight his attraction to the beautiful nun, who has the angelic face of Caravaggio's Santa Lucia. The famous painting hung in the Basilica in Sicily where Matteo grew up. He makes a foolish advance. Sister Lucy is appalled, but then begins to obsess about her much younger patient. In order to resist her mounting temptation, she forces him to leave the hospital.
Matteo doesn't know much English, but he knows pizza and finds a job at Sam's Pizzeria which has been acquired by wealthy Don Smith who forced his daughter Ruth Ann to quit college and manage the place. Ruth was studying business only to please her father, her true passion being Art History, especially the Baroque Era, especially Caravaggio.
Matteo teaches Ruth all about pizza-making, and Ruth teaches Matteo the English language Their friendship thrives, as does Sam's.
Meanwhile, Ruth Ann is falling hard for Matteo. She loses weight and fixes herself up. Months go by. Their connection deepens. One night they make love and Ruth is moonstruck. Her first time and now she knows what love is,
Then, out of nowhere, Sister Lucy shows up at Sam's. She left the convent, and Ruth is confused. She knows the woman helped Matteo recover, and he did go to visit her and thank her; but what is she doing here now?
Matteo begs Ruth to let the ex-nun stay. Ruth, not knowing Matteo and Sister Lucy share a dark secret, agrees. It isn't long before Ruth Ann regrets the decision. Sister Lucy is sharing Matteo's bed. Heartbroken, furious, Ruth suffers in silence until she can't take it any longer and throws them out.
Matteo and Sister Lucy embark on a journey fraught with trouble while Ruth vows to make Sam's a success. Screw Matteo. She'll prove she doesn't need him after all. Yet, little do any of them know that Caravaggio's art is not done shaping their individual destinies in, what just might turn out to be, a good way.
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