A successful, fifty-something Parisian artist goes back to his roots and returns to provincial France and his childhood home. He has neither the energy nor the talent to keep up the sprawling land around the house, and takes out a small ad to find some local help. Completely by chance, the first applicant – who turns out to be the right one – is an old school friend whom the PAINTER hasn’t seen since he was a kid. He becomes the GARDENER.