A young lady cutting onions tells the story of the birth of a girl named Tita. Tita's mother, Elena, gives birth on the kitchen table, assisted by the cook, Nacha. Shortly afterwards, Elena's husband dies of a heart attack when a stranger tells him that his wife had an affair, and that his daughter, Gertrudis, is not his. During the funeral, Elena explains that family tradition dictates that Tita, the youngest, cannot marry, but must take care of her until her death. Nacha takes charge of teaching Tita how to cook and she learns to infuse her emotions into food. Years later, a young man named Pedro Muzquiz professes his love to Tita, who feels the same about Pedro. Pedro arrives to ask for her hand but Elena explains Tita is not allowed to marry and offers Rosaura instead. Rosaura is delighted, Tita is devastated, and Gertrudis and Chencha, a maid, are disappointed. Nacha overhears Pedro tell his father that he is marrying Rosaura only to stay close to Tita. Nacha tells Tita, but she is too upset to believe it. While baking the wedding cake, Tita cries into the batter. During the wedding reception, Pedro tells Tita of his true feelings but Elena tells Tita she must stay away from Pedro. As the guests eat the wedding cake, everyone is overcome with great sadness for lost lovers and begins to cry. Overcome with this sadness, Elena rushes to her bedroom and tearfully looks at a photo of a well-dressed mulatto man. Tita finds Nacha dead holding a picture of her husband. Some time later, Rosaura becomes pregnant. One day, Pedro brings Tita a bouquet of roses to celebrate Tita being the head cook. Elena commands Tita to throw them away, but Tita uses the petals to create a rose sauce for a quail dish. While eating the meal, everyone becomes filled with sensual gratification except Rosaura who gets sick and leaves the table. Gertrudis becomes so overheated that the shower house catches fire. She runs away naked, encountering a soldier, Juan Alejandrez. Gertrudis jumps onto his horse and leaves with him. Tita sees this, but tells Elena that she was kidnapped. Tita secretly sends Gertrudis her things. Rosaura gives birth to a sickly son, Roberto but she is too ill to nurse Roberto so she must let Tita nurse him. Still suspicious that Tita and Pedro are having an affair, Elena sends Rosaura, Pedro, and Roberto to live in Texas where months later Roberto dies. Tita is greatly saddened by the news, but Elena tells her to show no emotion and to continue with the kitchen chores. This leads to a confrontation and Tita runs into the
dovecote and Elena threatens to have the ladder taken down. She is rescued by John Brown, a doctor, who takes her to his home in Texas for care for her. Chencha goes to visit Tita but she tells Chencha to tell Elena that she is never coming back to the ranch. Doctor Brown has fallen in love with Tita and proposes and Tita accepts. Back at the ranch, bandits invade the property and push Elena off a cliff. Tita and Doctor Brown return to the ranch to prepare Elena's funeral. While dressing Elena's body, Tita discovers the picture of Elena's lover. Pedro and Rosaura return for Elena's funeral, when Rosaura's water breaks. Rosaura gives birth to a healthy baby girl named Esperanza. Esperanza refuses to be fed by Rosaura, so Tita once again nurses the baby. Due to complications in childbirth, Rosaura has become
infertile and she imposes the family tradition on Esperanza, to Tita and Pedro's dismay. Pedro becomes jealous when he finds out about Tita's engagement to Doctor Brown, and he sneaks into Tita's room to have sex with her. During a party, Gertrudis, now a military general, returns with Juan Alejandrez, now her husband, and their squad. Feeling guilty, Tita begins to have illusions of Elena chastising her, and she suspects that she is pregnant with Pedro's child so she tells Gertrudis her concerns. Gertrudis advises Tita to tell Pedro because the love Pedro and she share is true, and that Rosaura's feelings are irrelevant because she knew that Tita was in love with Pedro. Tita is once again confronted with the illusion of Elena berating her. This time, Tita stands up to Elena, confronting her about her affair and then banishing her. While singing below Tita's window with Juan, Pedro catches on fire. Tita treats Pedro's wounds until Doctor Brown shows up. Pedro, still jealous of Tita's engagement to Doctor Brown, wants her to break it off, and threatens to tell Doctor Brown about their one-night stand and her pregnancy. Tita tells Pedro she is not pregnant; it was a false alarm. From guilt, though, Tita tells Doctor Brown of her infidelity and apologizes. Doctor Brown accepts her apology and states that he still wants to be with her, but will accept whatever decision she makes. Rosaura confronts Tita about her relationship with Pedro and threatens to kick Tita off the ranch if she goes anywhere near Esperanza. Many years later, Esperanza marries Doctor Brown's son. Through gossip, Tita is revealed to have stayed on the ranch to fight for Esperanza's right to marry, and Pedro woke up to find Rosaura dead from illness, releasing Esperanza from the family tradition. Pedro tells Tita that with Esperanza married off, they can rekindle their romance. After the wedding, they go to the guest house to make love. While having sex, Pedro has a heart attack and dies. Devastated, Tita commits suicide by swallowing matches, causing her body to spontaneously combust and the room to catch fire. The young woman narrating the whole story reveals that she is Esperanza's daughter, and when Esperanza returned home from her honeymoon to find the property burned to ashes, she discovered Tita's cookbook, which she kept and passed down to her daughter. ==Cast==