the french babbette appear at the modest house of two danish sister wet and cold and and alone . flee revolution in paris and she seek refuge in an obscure religious community on the windswept jutland coast . unbeknownst to those who so generously take her in and she be a great chef and an artist of food . babette give herself to her adopt community through thrift and productivity and and share faith . she leave only when she win the french lottery 10 and 000 franc . she return laden with exotic cargo and the making of a single meal commemorate the birthday of the sister father and the community founder . this meal loom darkly in the mind of the pleasure deny faithful but it subtlety be translate by an age military officer who and a a young man in paris and learn to appreciate the sensory experience unfolding here . the meal be the film climax and a communion of love in the transitory artistry of food unaffectedly uplift about art and love and and the meaning of life .