I Wish You To Remember Me (Deseo que me recuerdes)

Ten years after giving up the man she loved, Anna crosses paths with Carlo once again and reveals the secret that will change their lives forever: they have a daughter together. But just as fate grants them a second chance to build the family they always dreamed of, a terminal illness threatens to separate them when they need each other most.

Anna Santoro and Carlo Rossi have known each other since childhood in a small Tuscan village surrounded by lavender fields. They grow up together, fall in love as teenagers, and form such a deep bond that everyone around them assumes they will one day end up together. Yet while they share the same love, their dreams are not entirely aligned. Carlo, the eldest son of a humble family, longs to see the world and escape the boundaries of a life that feels too small. Anna, by contrast, is deeply attached to her homeland, her family, and the Santoro estate, where she feels her roots truly belong.

When Carlo secures a job on an overseas oil platform, they make plans to start a new life together away from Italy. But shortly afterward, Anna discovers she is pregnant. At the same time, her father suffers a heart attack, and she realizes she cannot abandon him. Terrified of becoming the reason Carlo gives up the opportunity he has fought so hard to achieve, and convinced that he would sacrifice everything for her if he knew the truth, she makes a devastating choice: she hides the pregnancy and ends their relationship. In a phone call, she tells him she will not be joining him and that it is best for them to go their separate ways. Heartbroken and unaware of the real reason behind her decision, Carlo accepts her farewell.

Over the following years, Anna remains in Tuscany. She raises her daughter, María, on her own, helps preserve the family estate, and builds a life deeply tied to the land she has always loved. Yet despite creating a fulfilling existence with her daughter and family, part of her remains anchored to the love she lost. Meanwhile, Carlo travels the world working on oil platforms, convinced that Anna simply stopped loving him.

Ten years later, Carlo unexpectedly returns to the village. Their reunion is as intense as it is painful. Neither has ever managed to forget the other. When Carlo meets María, her striking resemblance to him immediately awakens his suspicions. Eventually, Anna tells him the truth: María is his daughter.

The revelation leaves Carlo devastated. He realizes he has been robbed of ten years with his child and denied the right to choose his own future. As they confront the past together, however, he begins to understand the fear, doubt, and sacrifice that led Anna to make that impossible decision. Both come to recognize that despite the passage of time and the mistakes they have made, they have never stopped loving each other.

Just when it seems they have finally been given a second chance, Carlo reveals the real reason for his return. He is suffering from a rare and terminal illness for which there is no cure. After years of enduring increasingly aggressive treatments, he has chosen to stop fighting. The doctors cannot say how much time he has left. Perhaps a few years. Perhaps less. He returned to Tuscany because he needed to come home, reclaim the years he lost, and spend the remainder of his life with Anna.

The news shatters Anna. Yet it also forces her to face a truth she has spent years avoiding: the future is never guaranteed. For the first time, both of them choose to stop living in fear. Carlo gets to know his daughter, rebuilds his relationship with her, and becomes part of the Santoro family. Soon afterward, Anna and Carlo finally create the family they always dreamed of and welcome a second child, Raffaele.

For five years, they live fully aware that their time together is limited. They are years filled with happiness, shared memories, and the determination to make every moment count. Carlo finally experiences what he once believed he had lost forever: a family, a home, and the woman he has loved all his life. But the illness continues its relentless progression until he eventually dies surrounded by Anna and their children.

In the epilogue, several years later, Anna sits beneath the great cypress tree that has always been her refuge, on the wooden bench Carlo had placed there for her. As María, now a teenager, and little Raffaele play among the lavender fields, Anna reflects on the life they built together. She still misses him. She still loves him. But she also knows they fulfilled the promise they made to each other: to live without fear for as long as they could. Looking up at the sky, she speaks the words that encapsulate their entire story:

“I remember you.”

RELEVANT INFORMATION: Merche Diolch is a Spanish romance novelist. In 2009, she founded Yo Leo RA, one of the first websites dedicated to romantic fiction in Spain, through which she promoted initiatives such as the Encuentros Literarios RA and the CiempoLiT Festival, helping to expand the visibility of the genre. Throughout her career, she has received the AURA Award and has also been shortlisted for the prize on two occasions.

I Wish You to Remember Me is a family-centered romantic melodrama built around the classic elements of impossible love, long-buried secrets, reunions, and tragic destiny. Its greatest strength lies in its emotional intensity and a plot driven by clear dramatic stakes that sustain audience engagement through to its conclusion. The Tuscan setting provides a distinctive visual identity, while its universal themes and succession of major dramatic turns give it significant audiovisual potential, particularly as a commercially appealing romantic feature film with strong emotional impact.

AUDIOVISUAL POTENTIAL: TV Series, Limited Series, Feature Film, TV Movie.

AVAILABLE LANGUAGES: Spanish.