Placide's dad tells him on his deathbed he'll haunt Placide if he doesn't find a wife soon. Placide cautiously agrees, but he only wants to settle for a very beautiful woman. That might be easier said than done, since he is a vagabond. When he accidentally enters a photo shoot, Placide meets Sarah. He falls in love, but she is way out of his reach.
This heimat-movie after a novel by Felix Timmermans is about the at first sight idyllic, but actually tragical life of Wortel, a peasant in a pre-war Belgian village, who has a hard time accepting the curate’s assurance it’s all part of God’s grand plan when his loved ones keep coming to harm.