In the charming The One-Hundred Foot Journey, Hassan Kadam (Manish Dayal) is a culinary ingenue with the gastronomic equivalent of perfect pitch. Displaced from their native India, the Kadam family, led by Papa (Om Puri), settles in the quaint village of Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val in the south of France. Filled with charm, the village is both picturesque and elegant–the ideal place to settle down and open an Indian restaurant, Maison Mumbai. That is, until the chilly chef proprietress of Le Saule Pleureur, a Michelin-starred, classical French restaurant run by Madame Mallory (Academy Award winner Helen Mirren), gets wind of it.

Her icy protests against the new Indian restaurant a hundred feet from her own escalate into a heated battle between the two establishments. While on the surface it appears there is a war between the two restaurants, it is the struggle between people with different backgrounds and beliefs which is at the heart of the feud.

Madame Mallory, stubborn, officious and firmly set in her ways, is vocal of her distaste for the garish new Indian restaurant across the road, as she finds it offensive to her sense of taste and decorum. Papa Kadam, while loud and brash much like his family's restaurant, is a hard-working and decent man. The Kadam family fled their home in Mumbai following a series of tragic circumstances, eventually settling in Saint-Antonin, and he is not afraid to stand up to Madame Mallory.

But Hassan's passion for French haute cuisine—and for Madame Mallory's enchanting sous chef, Marguerite (Charlotte Le Bon)—combine with his mysteriously-delicious talent to weave magic between their two cultures and imbue Saint-Antonin with the flavors of life that even Madame Mallory cannot ignore. Madame Mallory eventually recognizes her culinary rival's gift as a chef and takes Hassan under her wing.

The Hundred-Foot Journey is directed by Lasse Hallström (who would next direct A Dog's Purpose for Amblin Entertainment), from a screenplay by Steven Knight, adapted from the best-selling novel by Richard C. Morais. The film is produced by Juliet Blake, Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey (The Color Purple).