In 1930s Paris, young Paul has known nothing beyond the towering walls of the orphanage, a stark structure located in the working-class outskirts of the city. He is placed in the care of Célestine, a cheerful country woman, and her husband Borel, the somewhat rigid gamekeeper of a sprawling estate in Sologne. This city boy, both defiant and headstrong, finds himself in an enigmatic and unsettling environment—a sovereign and untamed land. The expansive forest, foggy ponds, moors, and fields are all owned by the Count de la Fresnaye, a reclusive and elderly man who resides alone in his manor.