Amour, Romance & Chocolat

New York City based food stylist Emma Colvin is averse to risk, except when it comes to her favorite activity of baking cupcakes, where she will experiment with not always thought of flavor combinations, her intuition and palate in this regard almost always right. That aversion to risk is why she has planned out every step of her and her boyfriend Todd's upcoming pre-Valentine's romantic getaway to Bruges, much on a couple's package arranged through Marie Gruben, the owner/operator of Chateau Astrid, the boutique family-run hotel where they will be staying. The choice of Bruges is because her grandparents' fairy-tale romance began there, she, in possession of many of their romance mementos, wanting to visit many of the specific places associated with their romance, especially the Royal Palace. It is also in knowing that aversion to risk that Todd, in not only letting her know that he can no longer go on the trip but that he is breaking up with her in moving to Albany for work, doesn't even ask her to move with him in knowing what her answer would be. Against her nature, Emma decides to go to Bruges on her own anyway. Emma's trip hits another setback when she learns from Marie upon her arrival that the Royal Palace will be closed for the duration of her stay because of the upcoming royal wedding of Prince Frederic and the soon to be Princess Annabelle. Emma believes she's stumbled upon a way to make it into the Palace with the Prince and future Princess holding a competition among the local chocolatiers to create a special confection to commemorate their marriage, the chocolatiers who will present their confections in person at the Palace, with the announcement of the winner made at a royal gala at the Palace on Valentine's Day. Knowing that he temporarily needs an extra pair of hands leading up to the competition, Emma offers her "hands" to Marie's friend, Luc Simon, a second generation chocolatier in return for he allowing her to accompany him to the Palace for the presentation. Her offer and his acceptance are despite they knowing their differences which are only highlighted in working together: while he is an expert in chocolate, he does not like to venture far outside the tried and true flavors, she who believes he has to think outside his comfort zone in that respect to win the competition. Although they have difficulties in coming up with that sublime confection a step above anything ever produced even in Luc slowly opening up to the possibilities, they individually come to the realization that they are a good partnership which has the possibility to spill over into their personal lives. Beyond whether Emma is willing to take a risk in Luc on a personal level, their burgeoning relationship is threatened by Max Van Dender, Luc's fellow chocolatier, the two who have been in competition with each other their entire lives. Max is not only interested in Emma himself, but he wants to buy Luc out, Max's trendy shop which is pulling in the customers while Luc's is not, Luc, who has not told Emma the situation, holding out in the remote possibility of winning the competition to be able to keep his struggling shop afloat.