Amazing Grace Adams

Grace receives a letter from Lotte’s head teacher, John Power, addressing Lotte’s spotty attendance. Grace cannot make sense of the notification. Instead of working on her translation project, Grace confronts Lotte about school. Lotte is preoccupied with her laptop and demands to know what Grace wants. Grace struggles to recognize this version of her daughter.

Grace participates in a polyglot competition when she is 28 years old. She speaks five languages but feels insecure about participating in the event. She is heartened when an attractive male participant engages her in conversation. They chat during the break, and Grace learns that his name is Ben Kerr. At the end of the competition, Ben places second and Grace wins. She surprises herself by suggesting that she and Ben share her prize: a night in a fancy hotel. Ben agrees.

Grace feels liberated after abandoning the car. She decides that she will walk to the bakery to collect the cake and then walk to Ben’s house to deliver it. She is convinced that the cake will make Lotte forgive her for everything that has happened between them over the past months.

Grace tries to confront Lotte in the bathroom after finding a sexually suggestive note among Lotte’s things. She is amazed by Lotte’s youthful appearance and cannot help envying her daughter’s body.

Instead of mentioning the note, Grace invites Lotte to watch television with her that night. She also has yet to respond to the school regarding Lotte’s attendance issue. In trying to handle all of these issues by herself, she finds herself dwelling on her feelings of “guilt.”

The point of view switches to Ben as he meets up with Grace. He has not stopped thinking about her since the polyglot event. He is taken by her beauty when they greet each other on the beach. Their conversation is interrupted when Grace notices a surfer disappear in the water. Ben calls an ambulance while Grace saves the woman from drowning. He feels guilty for staying on shore while Grace is in the water. However, he is amazed by Grace. In the hotel afterward, they have sex.

As Grace heads to the bakery, she recalls the article she read about “the unhappiest age you can be” (25). She decides that the article’s conclusion was right: Since turning 45, Grace has been moody and discontented.

When Grace sees a mother and child on the street, she remembers showing her daughter the leaves when she was a baby. Grace’s mind flits to the day of her second child, Bea’s, death. Grace tries to stave off the memory but fails. A call from her translation editor, Paul, interrupts her thoughts. Paul says Grace is fired for failing to meet her deadlines. Grace also recently lost her assistant teaching job at Stanhope Primary and is unsure how she will go on.

After Grace hangs up, a stranger tells her to smile. Grace tries to ignore him. When the stranger ridicules her and calls her names, Grace loses her temper. She curses him in several languages, gives him two middle fingers, and storms away. 

Grace reads Lotte’s diary in an attempt to understand what is happening in her daughter’s life. She is worried that Lotte is in trouble. However, during her meeting with John Power and Lotte, Grace finds herself defending Lotte. She attributes Lotte’s behavior to her own recent separation from Lotte’s father, Ben. When John Power recommends a counselor for Lotte, Lotte gets upset, swears, and flees the office.

After winning the polyglot award, Grace becomes a television personality for a new linguistics show called Countdown. Before she starts the job, the producer asks if Grace plans to have children. She assures him that she doesn’t want to be a mother. She knows that she has told the truth, but when she leaves the meeting, she feels guilty for inadvertently catering to the sexist assumption that a woman cannot have both a career and children.

Grace sees an advertisement for an anti-aging serum at the local pharmacy. She steps inside the establishment. She feels hot, itchy, and irritable. When another customer cuts her in line, Grace loses her temper and smashes the display.

Before Lotte returns from school one afternoon, Grace snoops in Lotte’s bedroom. She logs in to Lotte’s computer and scans her social media pages. On Lotte’s Instagram, Grace is shocked by the obsessive and abusive comments users have posted on Lotte’s pictures.

Ben takes a break from preparing a lecture for his doctoral program. He turns on the television. He is surprised to see Grace on screen. He is disappointed that she never called him back after their night together. Watching her show, he recalls the time they spent together and his attraction to her.

The point of view remains with Ben as Grace calls him to say that she will be late. Ben doesn’t think Grace should come to the party because Lotte has been upset with Grace for months and still isn’t ready to see her. Grace insists she cannot miss Lotte’s birthday because she doesn’t want to fail Lotte again.

Grace lies in bed with a migraine. She recalls the article she read about perimenopausal symptoms. She should be working but feels awful. After the meeting with John Power, Grace lied and told Lotte that a friend’s mother told her about the “bullying” she saw on Lotte’s Instagram. Lotte insisted it was nothing. Grace knows Lotte is lying but is unsure how to handle the situation, particularly without Ben.

Grace’s sister, Cate, calls Grace to say she talked to Ben about Lotte skipping school. Cate is worried about Grace, and Grace explains her frustrations with Lotte. Cate gives her parenting advice, as she has a son. She suggests that Grace make a fake Instagram account to check on Lotte. Cate also reminds Grace that Lotte is part of a different generation. Grace is thankful for the support but privately resents that Cate would offer her advice when her own son had to go to rehab.

Grace talks to Ben after hanging up with Cate. Ben accuses Grace of hiding the truth about Lotte from him. Grace blames him for leaving the family. She assures him that she has everything with Lotte under control.

Grace gets unwanted media attention about her television role. Newspapers and magazines critique her appearance, weight, and styling. On set one day, Grace is so overwhelmed that she feels nauseous.

Grace runs into Freja Harris, a PTA mother, not far from the bakery. She tries to avoid Freja but fails. Freja talks on and on. Throughout Freja’s monologue, Grace’s mind wanders to the past. She soon grows annoyed with the interaction. She is tired of abiding by social norms and abandons Freja without saying goodbye.