[4] Set in 1789 before the French Revolution, the film begins with the main character Pierre Manceron (played by Grégory Gadebois) making a beautifully crafted dish, a tiny savory pastry filled with mushroom and potato.
If he serves a meal that pleases all of the Duke's Parisian friends, he will be deemed ready to go to Paris and cook for the finest of French palates.
The Duke's friends at first praise his cooking but one of them notices the pastry has potatoes, which at the time is a foreign food to them.
He is forced to retreat to his father's house, which now has been looted by starving citizens looking for food.
His son Benjamin (Lorenzo Lefèbvre) and old friend Jacob (Christian Bouillette) join him.
A woman named Louise (Isabelle Carré) arrives at their doorstep asking to become Manceron's apprentice.
They all work diligently to prepare, in spite of his son, Benjamin's insistance that they are better off running an inn and cooking for passing travelers.
He is proved right when the Duke and his friends laugh and drive their carriage past the feast prepared for them, without even stopping.
The chickens eat the pastries and immediately drop dead, revealing Louise's plot to poison the Duke.
The many soldiers are heard discussing being called to action to defend the king who anticipates an uprising.
He could find another apprentice or hire some of the thieves again, but without Louise his passion for cooking dwindles and soon people stop coming to eat.
First he goes to the Duke and convinces him to come to the Inn to try his new recipes and give him another chance to redeem himself.
They reveal a flier that reads "Come to the Inn and eat a free meal with the Duke of Chamfort."
The servant decides he is better off at the Inn and takes off his wig and starts to seat the arriving guests at the tables, welcoming them warmly.
The camera pulls back to reveal the French countryside and a text comes onto the screen, "two days later, the Bastille fell."