Louisa is an ordinary girl living in Victorian London. She is looking for a job, and ends up talking her way into the kitchen of a Lord's townhouse. The Lord has a rather snooty French chef. Louisa quickly develops a strong desire to become a top cook, although women back then were not chefs. Through hard work and sheer determination she wins over the chef and he begins to teach her his art. She quickly proves that she has a huge talent in the art of cooking. This brings her to the attention of three very different men, all of which will play huge but very different roles in her future. Partly because of whom she knows, but mostly by her own extremely strong will and work ethic, she goes on to be very successful in a time when independent women were something of an oddity.
—Deirdre of the Sorrows