The following version of this novel was used in the creation of this study guide. Fay, Kim. Love and Saffron. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2022. Hardcover.

Love and Saffron is composed of a series of letters. Therefore, the characters are referencing events of both the present and the past and any shift changes present within the summary are used on purpose to indicate these shifts in their writing.

In the year 1962, Joan Bergstrom writes a fan letter to Imogen Fortier praising her for the column titled "Letter from the Island." She includes a packet of Saffron as a gift. Imogen replies in the midst of a storm a few weeks later thanking Joan for the spice and starting a long-term friendship between them. Over time, Joan falls in love with an older man named Mateo Rodriguez, but only tells Imogen as she is afraid of what society will think of their relationship. Meanwhile, Joan and Imogen embark on a variety of culinary adventures as they encourage each other to try new ingredients and more international cuisine. Joan falls in love with Mexican cuisine and learns how to cook it from Mateo. Meanwhile, Imogen's long-time husband Francis is inspired to cook himself and focuses heavily on perfecting French cuisine with a unique, northwestern spin. This thrills Imogen, as she has worried about Francis for years after he suffered from PTSD as a soldier in the Great War.

Then in August of 1964, Imogen flies to Los Angeles to fulfill one of Joan's dreams of being able to talk with a friend who knows about her and Mateo. After that, both women see each other as sisters and continue their correspondence. Francis works on a greenhouse with a new friend, Mr. Pellegrini, and eventually surprises Imogen with tickets to France. After ten wonderful days there, Imogen writes down her experiences but mentions a headache that she is going to get treated for. Two months later, Joan reveals that she is pregnant with Mateo's child and is in Tijuana with the intention of aborting the baby. However, she fell in love with the child and imagined naming her Frida after the storm that Imogen wrote about in her first letter. With Imogen's encouragement, Joan decides to keep the baby and returns to the states where her mother buys her a wedding band to pretend to be married. Meanwhile, Imogen joins the Friends of the Market as they try to stop a group of developers from replacing Seattle's iconic Pike Place with parking garages, office buildings, and apartments.

A few months later, Joan starts a job as a Mexican cuisine writer for the Los Angeles Times as Imogen learns that she has a tumor in her right eye. The surgery to remove it is a success, much to Joan's relief. Joan also reveals that she spoke to a writer named Mrs. Brown who gave Joan a recommendation to her own literary agent so that Joan could pursue her dream of writing a cookbook about California's international cuisine.

However, Imogen passes away on May 7th, 1965 and Joan receives a letter Imogen wrote to her before her surgery. In there, Imogen tells Joan to love Mateo despite society's expectations and to tell stories of Imogen to Frida. Joan follows her advice, reconnecting with Mateo as he proposes. Her final letter to Imogen mentions the birth of Frida Rodriguez as Joan admits she misses Imogen too much to write anymore. The story ends as Joan sends Francis a copy of her book Cooking California Style, hoping that the stories of Imogen within will comfort him as much as they did her.