Tita, as the youngest of three daughters, is condemned by family tradition never to marry, but to spend her life caring for her mother. However, Tita has fallen in love with a young man and he with her. When Tita's mother refuses to let them wed, and suggests that he marry her other daughter instead, Tita takes revenge: by allowing her passions to surface through her cooking, she manipulates the emotions of all who eat her food -- with some very strange and magical results.