Iris Dandridge, a lifelong resident of Hansa, Pennsylvania, is a chef, a restaurateur, a widow, and a loser. Ever since she was cheated years ago out of her share of Hansa's finest restaurant, by a volatile chef named Frieda, Iris has driven her own restaurant to the brink of bankruptcy. Now it's summer 2009, and the unthinkable has happened: her only employee, a smart-aleck college kid named Jay, just quit and went to work for the one person Iris can't stand—Frieda. As summer begins, Iris closes her restaurant and takes one last shot at her culinary career—she opens a food cart in downtown Hansa and decides to compete against Frieda for the Golden Plate, the town's annual vote for best chef, although Frieda's won for the past nine years straight. Ready for a showdown and armed with the best chimichurri sauce in western Pennsylvania, Iris fires up her grill and serves up hot summer cart food. But soon she discovers that it's far more than a competition against Frieda for bragging rights. It's war.