Saffron is a taster for the Traitor King, but she doesn't eat normal dishes. She tastes her own husband's Temporal Confections, baked goods that trigger memories within their eaters. Saffron serves as a guarantee that her husband, Danny, will never attempt to poison their dystopian world's cruel ruler, as he would first poison his own wife.

Over the course of a meal, Saffron relives the moments that lead her to the King's side through her husband's creations. Her charming first interactions with the baker's apprentice who would become her husband. Her sister's rebellious spirit, and the horrifying consequences of her refusal to bow to a King who murdered his brother and stole his throne from his own nephew. The Traitor King had Saffron's sister tortured and publicly hung.

The final dessert, however, is one Saffron has never seen Danny bake - a chocolate recounting every moment when the eater has witnessed another's agony. Saffron convinces the Traitor King to take a bite, and when he does, he writhes in agony for three weeks. A lifetime of torturing and killing others means he must spent more than twenty days reliving every moment of another's agony he has witnessed.

During his weeks of illness, a new, kindly ruler comes to power, and Danny and Saffron are at last allowed to reunite. The Traitor King wakes in a cell beneath the palace that once belonged to him and finds only one morsel of food provided - a second chocolate. He eats it willingly, knowing this time, the remembrance will kill him.