An extraordinary portrait of love and marriage "They say there is no such thing as a perfect marriage, but of course there is. A perfect marriage is where two people live together for most of their lives until death separates them. What there is no such thing as is an easy marriage. And when it comes to love, people have somehow come around to equating love with ease". New York food writer Tressa returns from honeymoon worried that she has married her impossibly handsome new husband Dan out of late-thirties panic instead of love. In 1930's Ireland, her grandmother, Bernardine, is married off to the local schoolteacher after her family are unable to raise a dowry for her to marry her true love, Michael. During the first year of her marriage, Tressa distracts herself from her stay-or-go dilemma by working on her grandmother's recipes, searching for solace and answers through their preparation. Through the stories of these two women, RECIPES FOR A PERFECT MARRIAGE, challenges the modern ideal of romantic love as a given and ponders whether true love can really be learned.