Love Redesigned

The point of view of the narration switches to Dahlia, who is discussing the accident with Rosa and Josefina. The two women have been best friends their entire lives, frequently bringing Dahlia and Julian together against their will. As Dahlia looks at Julian, she can see bits of his old self when he was a quiet, scrappy boy, before he became the billionaire he is today.

The police sheriff approaches Dahlia and tells her that Julian mentioned she was having car troubles, a lie Dahlia knows he can use against her, as Dahlia was actually having a panic attack when the two crashed. Josefina tries to invite Dahlia to the school recital and dinner afterward with her godson, Nico, but Dahlia declines. Instead, the mothers suggest that they take Dahlia’s car to the recital and Julian can drop Dahlia off at home on his way there.

Dahlia feels numb as they drive into their hometown, Lake Wisteria. Since leaving two years earlier, Dahlia started a successful interior design business that led to a line of merchandise and a reality television show. She left California after her fiancé Oliver, Julian’s former roommate, broke up with her, with news of their broken engagement released to the press that morning. Dahlia is surprised that Julian tries to engage her in conversation, but Dahlia doesn’t want anything to do with him: She remembers how he broke her heart when they were 19.

As Julian drops Dahlia off at her childhood home, he wonders what has happened to her and considers his constant need to fix things. He makes it in time for Nico’s performance and meets his cousin Rafa after the show. Rafa mentions that Dahlia is no longer engaged. Julian knows that his mother will soon be scheming to get him and Dahlia together, but Rafa warns Julian against pursuing her.

Dahlia thinks about the last few weeks she has spent in therapy, which has been a struggle but has helped her deal with her relationship issues. In a therapy session with Dr. Martin, she discusses how her ex-fiancé Oliver had pulled away from her after her issues with infertility.

Dahlia’s first two days back in town are quiet aside from her doctors’ appointments, but on the third day, she comes downstairs to see the whole Lopez family in her house. She sees Nico, whom she loves. However, Nico also always reminds Dahlia of the children she wants but cannot have, so when Nico invites her to play a game, she runs off crying. Rafa finds her, and she admits that she has avoided being around kids since she learned about her infertility a few months prior, and Dahlia asks him to keep it a secret.

Julian arrives at the Muñoz family home late for their weekly Sunday dinner, and his mother immediately corners him to tell him not to antagonize Dahlia. Josefina thinks that Julian and Dahlia should work on a construction and design project together to distract her from her issues, but Julian refuses. However, Julian then thinks about how he can use this request as leverage and agrees so long as his mother stops trying to set him up on dates with women.

When everyone sits down for dinner, Dahlia’s chair is noticeably vacant, and Josefina gets Julian to go and talk to her. When he gets to Dahlia’s room, Julian sees that she is still wearing her expensive and gaudy engagement ring. Annoyed at him for glaring, Dahlia gives Julian the ring and tells him to do whatever he wants with it. Julian sees this as an opportunity to get her out of the house and distract her from her depression, so he goads Dahlia into going out with him to dispose of the ring.

On their way, Dahlia sees an ice cream truck and demands they stop, yet Julian notices her extreme anxiety when they stop and see children at the park nearby. Julian feels the need to do something nice for her, so he gets ice cream and brings it to the car.

After eating their ice cream, Dahlia and Julian arrive at one of his construction sites, where Julian starts a concrete mixer. While asking if she is sure she wants to get rid of the engagement ring, Dahlia mentions how she doesn’t want to sell it to give someone else bad luck. Julian offers to buy it for $100,000, so Dahlia agrees, just before Julian throws the ring into the concrete mixer.

When Dahlia asks why Julian did that, he mentions that she must have never liked the ring because it represented the “fancy facade” (68) of Oliver and his family. Dahlia thinks about Oliver’s wealthy family and how he only cared about his inheritance and producing an heir; Dahlia refuses to let herself cry over a man like that.

On the way back home, Dahlia and Julian see that one of the magnificent houses built by one of the town’s founders is for sale. Dahlia has always dreamed of renovating this house and thinks that restoring it would help her with her depression. When Julian sees her interest, he threatens to make an offer on the house so he can bulldoze it for one of his multimillion-dollar properties. Julian suggests they can split the cost of the house, thinking she can work on the original property while he tries to build more on the land. Though Dahlia knows working with Julian will be a bad idea, she cares about the history of this house and doesn’t want to see it demolished. She agrees to Julian’s plan, in which she would get total creative control over the house.

At lunch with Rafa, Julian admits that he is teaming up with Dahlia to work on the Founder’s house. Rafa thinks he is making a mistake and trying to fit himself into Oliver’s role, regardless of Josefina’s plan to get him and Dahlia married. Julian thinks about his mistake of introducing Dahlia to Oliver and becoming friends with him in the first place.

Julian has a draining meeting at his office. He reflects on how he has done everything his late father ever wanted with the business, yet his passion for it is gone.

Dahlia gets a call from her agent, Jamie, informing her that a reporter has been asking her about her breakup. Jamie also brings up how she is expected to send in design sketches soon, and how she hasn’t heard back about producing a new show.

Though she doesn’t want to leave her bed, Dahlia has agreed to help her mother and her sister Lily at their family’s flower shop. She runs into an old classmate named Alana and her family. Alana invites Dahlia to come to her home anytime.

Lily brings up Dahlia’s missing engagement ring and the two start talking about Julian. Dahlia tells her the secret that she and Julian almost got together in college, just before his dad died. She recounts Julian breaking her heart over a phone call shortly after, telling her that he didn’t have the same feelings as she did. Dahlia goes to visit her father’s grave and talks to him about the mistakes she made in her relationship with Oliver.

In the Lopez-Muñoz group chat, Dahlia reads through shocked messages about her and Julian teaming up to buy a house. Julian texts her privately, confirming that he has put in an offer that outbids any others and that the house is theirs if they want it, so Dahlia agrees.

That night, Lily announces that she and Dahlia are going out to a Halloween party, making Dahlia nervous. Dahlia hesitantly agrees, and Lily gives her a costume and 15 minutes to get ready before they leave.

Dahlia has fun with Lily until she sees Julian staring at her from the other side of the bar. She runs into an old classmate she had a crush on in high school, but Julian appears behind her, intimidating the man to leave her alone. The two of them trade barbs, and Julian brings up their one kiss in college. Dahlia does her best not to let it affect her.

At the Lopez-Muñoz dinner on Sunday, Dahlia and Julian bicker the entire night until Rosa and Josefina force the two of them to do the dishes together. The two begin fighting again, and within minutes both end up soaked and with their phones in the dirty dishwater.

Dahlia and Julian meet to look at the Founder’s house a few days later, and the anger between them hasn’t dissipated. They discuss the town’s upcoming Harvest Festival. Dahlia is afraid of working at her family’s booth and seeing all her old neighbors.

Dahlia immediately falls in love with the house when she enters. Though she and Julian continue to bicker and insult one another, Dahlia feels she is unable to stay mad at Julian for long, especially when he opens up to her about his father’s death.