The Netflix original "From Scratch," based on Tembi Locke's 2019 best-selling memoir "From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home," seems to have been created solely to please an artificial intelligence.

When actress Tembi first laid eyes on professional chef Saro, they fell in love at first sight. However, Saro's conservative Sicilian family disapproved of his plans to marry a black American woman. Even though they were devastated, the couple continued their journey together. They had a wonderful life together in Los Angeles, where they fostered and eventually adopted a newborn girl who became the center of their universe. They made up with Saro's relatives just as he was diagnosed with a malignancy so deadly it would wipe out everything they had ever hoped for.

Tembi and her daughter, Zoela, spend three summers in Sicily, and From Scratch documents their journey as they begin a new life after Tembi's spouse's death and relocation to a larger city. Tembi, who had previously been at odds with Saro's family, now finds comfort and nutrition (both physically and metaphorically) at her mother-in-law's table. There, in the countryside of Sicily, she finds the comfort of a close-knit community, the nourishment of fresh, local produce, and the guidance of ancient traditions and sage advice. As she travels, she thinks back on her love affair with Saro, which is described as "an extraordinary love story that explodes off the pages."

They say that every narrative in Sicily begins with a wedding or a funeral; in Tembi Locke's case, it's both. Locke's novel is about love, finding a home, and chasing flavor as an act of remembering, but it will also elevate readers hurting from losing their loved ones.