This movie is about how life and love used to be handled in Mexico. Love between Tita (Cavazos) and Pedro (Leonardi), opens a can of worms: why can't they get married? Only because Tita's mother Elena (Torne) wants her elder daughter Rosaura (Arizmendi) to marry first, and for Tita to stay home to take care of her mother. Marriage, not so long ago, was imposed upon people, yet we see how real love between two people can change everything. This movie created a new epoch of Mexican film.

Tita and Pedro nonetheless try to marry each other, but after Mama Elena refuses to let them, Pedro is offered Tita's sister. Simply because no youngest daughter has ever married, and Mama Elena won't let her youngest daughter be the first to change that tradition. Tita's heart breaks after her mother offers to let Pedro marry Rosaura, and he accepts. But he lets Tita know he will only marry her sister to be close to her.

When Tita is forced to make the couple's wedding cake, the guests at the wedding are overcome with sadness, and Tita discovers she can do powerful things with her cooking. Afterward, the lovers live in the same house, where Mama Elena cannot forbid their love, even if she prevented their marriage.

Trist but beautiful and evocative, this film shows how two people who intend to be together can find a way. The ironies in the arrangement here are poignant but compelling. The whole is strikingly acted, shot, and directed.