The following version of the book was used to create this study guide: Divakaruni, Chitra Banerjee. The Mistress of Spices. Random House Publishing, New York, NY. 1997. Kindle AZW file.

The birth of a girl was not something to be celebrated in the village where Tilo's life began. Her parents named her Nayan Tara, and her life was difficult until she began to develop powers. Her supernatural sight made her famous, earning gifts and creating a lavish lifestyle. Tilo soon became bored with the ease of that life, and her longing for something else summoned pirates to her village. The pirates carried her away while her village burned. Tilo soon took control of the pirates and led them to riches. When she was also bored with that life, she learned of a mysterious island. She sailed as close as possible and swam the rest of the way, her powers useless against the greater power that protected the island.

Tilo was one of the girls who studied under the direction of the First Mother, learning to use her power in connection with the spices. At the end of her time as a student, the First Mother chose names for the young mistresses. Tilo chose her own. The women then stepped into Shampati's fire, leaving the island and taking up their duties in a new place. Tilo chooses Oakland, California. She wakes after the fire in a store called the Spice Bazaar. Though she is young, she has taken on the appearance of an old woman with wrinkled skin and brittle hair. Tilo begins her work, selling many typical items from the Indian culture and items for cooking traditional Indian dishes. She also reaches out to the customers who have needs or desires, providing the appropriate spices to help them.

Tilo helps a woman she knows as Ahuja's wife gather the courage to stand up for herself against her husband's brutality. She helps a man she knows as Geeta's grandfather heal a rift created in the family when Geeta chooses to marry a Mexican man. Some of her efforts do not work out as she hoped. A boy named Jagjit lives a difficult life with no friends and no affection. Tilo provides the spices to help him make a friend, then learns that Jagjit has become part of a gang. She later puts him in contact with another customer who operates a dojo and gives him money to pay for lessons. Another man named Haroun believes he is bettering himself when he quits his job as a chauffeur and begins driving a taxi. Tilo sees violence in his future and calls on the spices for a resolution. The spices create a metallic object – apparently a gun – but Tilo realizes that Haroun needs love in his life more than he needs more hate and chooses to give him lotus root instead.

Meanwhile, Tilo is struggling with the rules of being a mistress. She is not supposed to leave the shop or become invested in any customer above others. She finds that impossible and goes out several times in an effort to help those she cares about most. She meets a young man named Raven who can see past the facade of an old woman. Raven has had a difficult life as well. His mother was Native American who denied her culture and denied Raven the opportunity to choose that life for himself. As Raven and Tilo become closer, Tilo feels the pangs of doomed love and comes to hate her appearance. When she learns she is being recalled back to the island – possibly dying on her way back through Shampati's fire – she calls on the spices to make her young and beautiful for one night of love with Raven.

Tilo returns to the store intending to accept her fate, but her magic and the spices do not work. She feels her body transform out of that young, beautiful woman as the ground shakes and her store is torn apart. Raven is already returning to Tilo when an earthquake strikes. He finds a young woman at the store who does not look like either the old woman version of Tilo or the beautiful young Tilo. Despite that, Raven recognizes her as the woman he loves. When Tilo regains consciousness, Raven discounts Tilo's worries that their relationship will not work because of their cultural differences. He wants to leave the city in search of a dream – an earthly paradise. Tilo is determined to return to the city to help those affected by the earthquake she caused. Raven insists on going with her. As the final scene closes, Tilo looks out at the ocean where she sees the glittering eyes of a sea serpent, just like the ones who once directed her to the island.