While researching recipes for an upcoming private dining event, Celebrity Chef William Laurent comes across an odd set of initials connected to recipes inside Le Guide Culinaire, the premier French cookbook written by The King Of Chefs, Georges Auguste Escoffier.  Upon deciphering the initials, Chef Laurent uncovers a connection between Escoffier, Ernest Hemingway, and a plant geneticist from the Kaiser Wilhelm Society.

Intrigued by the odd connections, Chef Laurent decides to visit Escoffier’s culinary museum in the sleepy village of Villeneuve-Loubet, located in the Côte d’Azur region of Southeastern France. While looking through the artifacts inside the museum, Chef Laurent locates Escoffier’s journal, which he hopes contains information on the men and their odd connection.

However, when he goes to steal the journal, he realizes too late that the museum is a trap.  Quickly departing, Chef Laurent discovers that an international group of ruthless mercenaries is intent on capturing him. From there it becomes a game of cat and mouse through the French Riviera as Chef Laurent, turning to a local group of Niçois fishermen that he has known for years, and with help of the mysterious Woman With Auburn Hair, combine their resources to solve Escoffier’s code before a century-old secret is unleashed on an unsuspecting modern world.