[Python] How do I make alterations to this shapefile in python with geopandas or cartopy?

How do I add light grey state lines, change the background to white, and change certain areas to certain colors? This is from the EPA Level2 ecoregion map. I'd like to color each ecoregion a separate color.



import geopandas as gpd
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Load the shapefile
shapefile_path = "/home/student/tsjohnson/NA_CEC_Eco_Level2.shx"
level2 = gpd.read_file(shapefile_path)

# Create the plot
ax = level2.plot(edgecolor='black', figsize=(10, 8))

# Set axis limits
ax.set_xlim([-2.25E6,-1E6])
ax.set_ylim([-1E6, 0.6E6])

# Show the plot
plt.show()


I tried this and it stretched the image and didnt add anything.

import geopandas as gpd
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Load the shapefile
shapefile_path = "/home/student/tsjohnson/NA_CEC_Eco_Level2.shx"
level2 = gpd.read_file(shapefile_path)

# Create the plot with white background
fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(10, 8))
level2.plot(ax=ax, edgecolor='black')
# Set axis limits
ax.set_xlim([-2.25E6, -1E6])
ax.set_ylim([-1E6, 0.5E6])
ax.set_facecolor('white')
us_states = gpd.read_file(gpd.datasets.get_path('naturalearth_lowres'))
states = us_states[us_states['continent'] == 'North America'] # Filter for North American states

states.boundary.plot(ax=ax, linewidth=1, color='black')

plt.show()

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