When beautiful, unmarried Vianne Rocher sweeps into the little French town of Lasquenet on the heels of the carnival and opens a chocolate shop across the square from the church, she begins to wreak havoc with the town’s Lenten vows. Her uncanny ability to perceive her customers’ private discontents and alleviate them with just the right confection coaxes the villagers to abandon themselves to temptation and happiness, but enrages the local priest. Certain only a witch could stir such sinful indulgence and devise such clever cures, Father Francis pits himself against Vianne and vows to block the chocolate festival she plans for Easter Sunday, and to run her out of town forever. Witch or not, (she’ll never tell), Vianne soon sparks a dramatic confrontation between those who prefer the cold comforts of the church and those who revel in their newly discovered taste for pleasure.