Como agua para chocolate is a fresco of rural Mexican society between 1910 and 1933, and a portrayal of the deep-rooted traditions that the novel’s heroine confronts.

Tita, the youngest child of a charismatic woman, is trapped in a destiny predetermined at birth: family tradition dictates that the youngest daughter must renounce marriage and devote herself to the care of her mother. Tita, however, is passionately in love with Pedro, her eldest sister’s husband. She is also pursued by John Brown, an American doctor who offers her an austere and serene form of love. Twenty years later, Tita and Pedro finally come together through fire and death.