Upon receiving a hit on the head, the eccentric gourmet critic Gilles Demmonget loses his sense of taste – just before a cooking duel with the young, wild rival Paul Scheffke, of all times. A friend advises him to go to a fasting hotel on the island of Sylt. Solitude, silence and an abdication of solid foods are to sharpen his senses. On the island of Sylt he not only comes across the temperamentful Marit Hansen, who runs the fasting programme, but also his desirous ex-lover Diana is put up in the room next door to his. Gilles is trapped while hunger and strange hotel guests drive him to the brink of insanity. Then the unscrupulous investigative journalist Zimmermann gets on his tracks, who would like nothing better than to see his pupil Scheffke at the pinnacle of top chefs. Gilles considers escaping. But then the hungry masses prove to be a support and they succeed in persuading the 'king of good taste' to stay. And Gilles and Marit, whose approach to food is marked by UNICEF, begin to approach each other tenderly.