When Bertold, a young pastry chef, escapes Emete Talbors reign of terror in
Schwartzgarten through the citys sewers, he is flushed out into the surging
River Schwartz. Only by clinging to a floating wooden crate does Bertold avoid
drowning. Swept many miles down river, Bertold washes ashore below the mountain
castle of the exiled Prince Alberto. Anxious not to be arrested as a spy from
Schwartzgarten, Bertold pretends that he has lost his memory and so he is
given the name Kalvitas (the name stamped on the wooden crate he still clutches
in his hands). Bertold is taken into the palace, where he excels as a pastry
chef in Prince Albertos kitchens. But war hovers on the horizon, and when
Prince Alberto is assassinated, he is succeeded by his battle-shy son, the
hypochondriac Prince Eugene. When Emete Talbor declares war against Prince
Eugene, Bertold is sent to the battlefields outside Schwartzgarten to set up a
field canteen for the troops. In his efforts to protect Good Prince Eugene,
Bertold is thrust into the very midst of battle. But when the heroic pastry
chef is accused of spying by a double-crossing imperial ambassador, it seems
that his dreams of liberating Schwartzgarten and finally returning home have
been ruined.