Here It All Begins – Summary and Spoilers – October 28, 2025 – Carla cooks with Jim, Ninon falls into Tom’s plan
The film opens on a bright morning at the Auguste Armand Institute, where excitement is at its peak. The kitchens are buzzing with life, pots and pans are clanging, and students are running from one station to another. Yet, behind this daily hustle and bustle, personal intrigues lurk that will once again upset the fragile balance of the place. This day of October 28, 2025, will be unlike any other: between unexpected rapprochements, subtle manipulations, and unspoken desires, the Institute’s protagonists will experience an episode that is both delicious and explosive.
From the very first minutes, we find Carla , focused on an ambitious culinary project. Far from her sometimes impulsive temperament, she demonstrates a new mastery and sensitivity. And for good reason: she works in a duo with Jim , one of the most promising students of the moment, whose rigor and calm contrast with her usual passion. Their duo intrigues, even fascinates. The two young people seek each other out, size each other up, complement each other. Their exchanges, initially strictly professional, gradually take on an unexpected complicity.
Their mission: to create a dish that combines tradition and modernity for an internal competition organized by Chef Teyssier. From the start, their visions clash. Jim wants to focus on technique, precision, and visual perfection. Carla prioritizes emotion, taste, and the story behind the recipe. Their discussions become veritable verbal jousts, filmed at a lively pace full of tension. But beneath this culinary rivalry lies something else: a latent attraction, which neither seems ready to embrace. Gazes lengthen, gestures brush past, and the camera captures every meaningful silence.
As the duo searches for balance, a parallel plot unfolds around Tom and Ninon . Tom, true to his reputation as a charming strategist, devises a plan to seduce Ninon. His goal? To prove he can get what he wants, even if it means manipulating feelings. With the complicit help of a friend, he sets up a meticulous scenario: an “accidental” situation that positions him as savior, an improvised conversation in a sincere tone, and a moment of feigned vulnerability. The viewer, an accomplice in spite of himself, witnesses this game of deception with a mixture of amusement and unease.
Ninon, for her part, is far from suspecting that she’s walking straight into a trap. Believing in Tom’s sincerity, she lets herself be charmed. The scenes between them, bathed in soft lighting, convey the ambiguity of the situation. Their dialogue oscillates between tenderness and manipulation, and little by little, Ninon becomes attached. What was just a game for Tom begins to trouble him. Behind his self-assured smiles, we perceive a flaw, an emotion he can no longer control. The line between calculation and sentiment becomes blurred.
Meanwhile, at the Institute, the teachers are watching the students closely. Teyssier, true to form, plays the provocateur. He puts pressure on Carla and Jim, highlighting their differences and trying to see who will crack first. “Cooking is like a relationship: it only works if each learns to listen to the other,” he says, half-sarcastic, half-visionary. These words resonate more than he realizes. Little by little, Carla and Jim understand that they must stop competing to succeed together.
A striking sequence shows them late at night, alone in the kitchen, trying to finalize their recipe. The atmosphere is more intimate, almost suspended. Jim, focused, explains his technique for caramelizing a delicate ingredient. Carla watches him, fascinated despite herself. When he turns to her, their eyes meet, and an eloquent silence falls. The camera slowly pans around them, heightening the emotional tension. Then, with a spontaneous gesture, Carla offers a personal touch: an herb, an unexpected seasoning. Jim tastes, surprised, then smiles. “It’s perfect,” he murmurs. This moment seals their alliance, and something deeper begins to blossom between them.
The next day, it was time for the presentation. Before the jury, Carla and Jim unveiled their dish, the fruit of a sincere and balanced collaboration. The tasting was a success: the contrast between Jim’s rigor and Carla’s creativity hit the mark. Teyssier, rarely so complimentary, congratulated them half-heartedly, not without irony: “It just goes to show that even explosive temperaments can create magic… when they’re not tearing each other apart.” The room burst into laughter, but the look the two young chefs exchanged said it all: this partnership is far from over.
Meanwhile, Tom’s plan takes an unexpected turn. Ninon, now seduced, begins to open up to him, sharing fragments of her past, her doubts, her dreams. But one detail betrays Tom. A message left open on her phone, a note overheard by chance… Ninon understands that she has been manipulated. The scene of the revelation is of a rare intensity. Disappointment and anger are evident on her face. “Were you playing with me?” she asks, her voice trembling. Tom tries to justify himself, but it’s too late. Ninon walks away, hurt. For the first time, Tom seems truly touched. What he thought was a game has just escaped him.
The film then shifts to a more introspective tone. Each of the characters is confronted with their choices. Carla, now at peace, finds refuge in the kitchen, a way to express her emotions. Jim, meanwhile, realizes that behind their collaboration lies a sincere admiration. Ninon, for her part, tries to come to terms with the betrayal, supported by her friends. And Tom, consumed by remorse, finally understands the scope of his actions. In a moving final scene, he joins her by the lake at sunset. “I didn’t mean to hurt you,” he says simply. Ninon doesn’t respond, but her softened gaze suggests a possible redemption.
The final sequence of the film, of remarkable visual beauty, shows the Institute plunged into the calm of evening. In the empty kitchen, Carla and Jim are still working, side by side, in a complicit silence. The dim lighting, the precise movements, everything exudes a newfound serenity. In a voiceover, Carla confides: “Cooking is like life. Sometimes you have to mess up a recipe to understand what you really want to taste.” These words, imbued with wisdom, resonate like a universal moral.
This 900-word spoiler captures the emotional depth of Here It All Begins as of October 28, 2025: between rivalries and attractions, lies and truths, it’s an episode where hearts are revealed as much as talents. Love, cooking, and secrets blend together in perfect alchemy, proving once again that in Armand’s kitchen, everything begins… but nothing ever truly ends.
