After 30 years of salt beef and baloney, the instinctively vegan Isabel hops a bay bus to the city supermarket. But a nosy stock boy, a cashier with his laminated flip book of produce codes could wreak havoc with her newfound confidence.

Of the Essence tells the story of a couple, Tom and Emily, who, after a chance encounter at a grocery store, have a fight which could end up being the last time they speak. Through alternating time lines between a frantic Tom racing through downtown St. John's and the catalyst encounter, Tom discovers that some battles are truly worth fighting, while others are insignificant in the grander scale.