Character Relationship Map: Romance & Cigarettes

Characters

• Nick Murder (played by James Gandolfini) — protagonist

  Nick is Kitty's construction-worker husband whose affair with the much younger Tula devastates their marriage and family. After licorice poisoning, shame, confrontation by his mother, and a terminal l...

• Kitty Kane (played by Susan Sarandon) — protagonist

  Kitty is Nick's seamstress wife, whose discovery of his sexually explicit poem exposes his affair with Tula. She confronts Tula, returns to church and its choir, resists forgiving Nick, then agrees to...

• Tula (played by Kate Winslet) — supporting

  Tula is a young Mancunian lingerie-shop worker who begins an affair with Nick after seeing him shirtless at a construction site. She hopes he will commit to her and encourages his circumcision, but he...

• Angelo (played by Steve Buscemi) — supporting

  Angelo is Nick's best friend and coworker, a sexually compulsive man who offers philosophical observations about romance and intercourse. He helps convince Nick to undergo circumcision and later confr...

• Fryburg (played by Bobby Cannavale) — supporting

  Fryburg is the dimwitted neighborhood boy who romances Baby and insists on referring to himself in the third person. He plans a future with her, but Baby ends the relationship after recognizing that h...

• Baby (played by Mandy Moore) — supporting

  Baby is Kitty and Nick's daughter, a lead guitarist and vocalist in a local rock band. She falls in love with Fryburg and announces plans to marry him, provoking Kitty's opposition, but later breaks u...

• Cousin Bo (played by Christopher Walken) — supporting

  Cousin Bo is Kitty's rockabilly-fixated and paranoid cousin. He claims that he escaped punishment for murdering his adulterous wife, though she is actually alive and living with her boyfriend. He help...

• Nick's Mother (played by Elaine Stritch) — minor

  Nick's mother confronts him in the hospital after his licorice poisoning and condemns his infidelity. She explains that his behavior resembles that of his unfaithful father and grandfather, remembered...

Canonical Relationships

Family, romantic, and professional connections based on plot evidence.

• Nick's Mother → Nick Murder (mother)
• Baby → Fryburg (Romantic Partner) — Their relationship is Baby's parallel coming-of-age romance.

  Baby begins a romance with Fryburg and announces plans to marry him, but later breaks up with him after judging him unambitious and unsuitable as a li...

• Nick Murder → Baby (Family Father) — Nick's infidelity affects the family environment in which Baby is forming her own romantic expectations.

  The plot describes Baby as the daughter of Nick and Kitty and places her within the family affected by Nick's affair.

• Nick Murder → Angelo (Professional Coworker) — Their workplace connection provides a channel for Angelo's influence over Nick.

  Angelo is identified as Nick's best friend and coworker, and he helps convince Nick to undergo circumcision.

• Nick Murder → Tula (Romantic Lover) — Their affair drives the primary rupture in Nick's marriage.

  Nick has an affair with Tula, a younger woman who works in a lingerie shop, and continues seeing her after Kitty discovers the affair.

• Kitty Kane → Cousin Bo (Family Cousin) — Their family connection becomes practical cooperation during Kitty's investigation.

  Kitty enlists her cousin Bo to help identify and locate Tula.

• Kitty Kane → Baby (Family Mother) — Kitty tries to protect Baby from making what she sees as a damaging romantic choice.

  Baby is Kitty's daughter, and Kitty forbids Baby from marrying Fryburg because she fears Baby will repeat her own unhappy marital experience.

• Nick Murder → Kitty Kane (Family Husband) — They are a married couple whose relationship forms the central emotional conflict.

  The plot identifies Nick as Kitty's construction worker husband. Their marriage is destabilized after Kitty discovers his affair.

Story Dynamics

Alliances, conflicts, and narrative interactions that evolve throughout the story.

• Kitty Kane → Tula (Conflict Rival) — Tula becomes the direct focus of Kitty's anger and jealousy.

  Kitty and Tula track each other to the lingerie shop, where they engage in a violent physical altercation.

Story Analysis

A damaged marriage confronts betrayal, inherited sexual patterns, illness, and the difficult persistence of love.

Plot Progression

1. The Poem Breaks The Marriage — Kitty discovers Nick's explicit poem and learns about his affair with Tula. The revelation damages their marriage and unsettles their family.
2. Desire Across Generations — Nick continues seeing Tula while Baby begins a romance with Fryburg. Kitty rejects Baby's marriage plans because she fears a repetition of her own suffering.
3. The Search For Tula — Kitty returns to church and seeks help from Cousin Bo to identify Tula. Their search ends at the lingerie shop, where Kitty and Tula fight.
4. Shame And Separation — Nick's licorice poisoning brings Angelo and Nick's mother into direct confrontation with him. Their warning about his family legacy leads Nick to end the affair.
5. Illness And Final Grace — Nick's beating and terminal lung cancer expose the fragility of his life. Kitty agrees to care for him, and his final poem gives their damaged marriage a mournful emotional closure.