Catherine “Cath” Pinkerton, the daughter of the Marquess and Marchioness of Rock Turtle Cove, lives in the kingdom of Hearts and aspires to be a baker despite her parents’ expectations that she marry someone of the gentry. Cath makes lemon tarts for a royal ball at the palace, hoping to earn recognition from the King of Hearts himself; such a gesture would earn her enough renown to open a successful bakery with her best friend and housemaid, Mary Ann. Cheshire, a disappearing cat with a wide smile, materializes in the kitchen as Cath bakes, and she tells him that the lemons she used for the tarts came from a dream in which a mysterious, shadowy boy allured Cath with his lemon-yellow eyes. Cath had the sense that the boy had something she desperately wanted, but the boy continually receded from her reach. When Cath awoke, the lemon tree had manifested in her bedroom.

Mary Ann helps Cath prepare for the ball and tells her that the local cobbler is closing his shop; it would be a perfect spot for their bakery. Mary Ann, who has a talent for thinking pragmatically, has already calculated the expenses and profits.