Set in February 2019, The Self-Made Saint follows retired UNHCR volunteer and affectionate curmudgeon, JUDITH DRAINGER (59) as she leaves London to move to the dusty shores of Adelaide, South Australia, to rescue her daughter, CASSANDRA (29) and her baby granddaughter, EMILY(5m) from what she believes is a domestic hell.
Yet, from day one Judith's plan is beset with problems. Her new house is a unrenovated disaster and Cassandra is cold and distant with her at their reunion. It is also immediately clear to Judith that her granddaughter, Emily, is very unwell but Cassandra won't acknowledge any problem with the baby. Mother and daughter fall back into their old, negative patterns, when Cassandra rejects Judith's help out of hand. Alone now, Judith must adapt to her new Australian home as her own complex issues with health, family and being forcibly retired threaten to overwhelm her.
Fiercely independent, Judith is initially brusque with her nosy new neighbor, MARTHA THOMPSON, but when Judith falls and injures herself, it's busybody Martha who takes care of her, absorbing an embarrassed Judith into an extended circle of close friends and family. Though just when she feels like she's found her footing, a home invasion knocks her down again and despite Martha's generosity, Judith makes a clumsy attempt at seducing Martha's handsome husband. In a surprise twist she'd never expect, Martha forgives Judith for the transgression. Inspired by Martha's act of selflessness, Judith redoubles her efforts to communicate with Cassandra. She also falls into the role of caring for her very elderly neighbor, the cantankerous and troubled, GLADYS MULRONEY, seeing in her an inevitable future if she can't soon repair her relationship with Cassandra.
Shockingly, Emily's health deteriorates and the baby is hospitalized on the same day that poor Gladys is taken into hospice care. Cassandra finally reaches out for her mother's help, but Judith has already committed to stay by Gladys's sickbed. Initially furious, Cassandra later becomes a witness to the comfort Judith provides in the moment of Gladys's death. Judith chooses to build on these shaky grounds for a more permanent reconciliation with Cassandra, finally understanding that a step back doesn't have to mean a step away from her little family. Supported by new friends, Judith creates her own happy home where she doesn't have to act like a saint to be accepted and loved.
