As Ina Garten prepares to write her memoir, she recalls a day early in her relationship with her future husband Jeffrey. Jeffrey, a sophomore in college, wanted to spend Ina’s weekend visit hiking, but Ina, a college senior who wanted to socialize, quickly grew tired. Although she was afraid of disappointing him the way she often did her strict and unyielding parents, Garten veered off the trail and created her own slower trail using switchbacks. Rather than growing angry, Jeffrey laughed and cheered at Garten’s ingenuity. Looking back, Garten takes this moment as a preview of both the challenges she would face throughout her life and the support Jeffrey would offer throughout their relationship. Three years later, they were married.

At age 30, Garten is growing tired of her job writing nuclear energy policy for the White House’s Office of Management and Budget. Although she finds the job intellectually stimulating, she is frustrated by the slow pace of government and the fact that her work rarely produces tangible results. Sensing her unhappiness, her husband Jeffrey suggests that she find a new job more closely related to her passions. When Garten sees an advertisement for the sale of a small gourmet food store in Westhampton, a small town on the tip of New York’s Long Island, she feels compelled to visit.