"I owe you the truth in painting, and you shall have it!" Cezanne devoted himself body and soul to his painting, to the exclusion of any other passion. After a few short stays in Paris, he returns to the south of France, fascinated by the light there and his sacred Mount St. Victoire, and haunted by the representation of nature. The film traces the artist's quest from his childhood in Aix-en-Provence, marked by his friendship with Emile Zola, to his encounter with the Impressionists and especially with Pissarro. Like his impressionist friends, Cezanne always worked outdoors, constantly searching, in his model, for its essence. His paintings open up new pictorial perspectives. The precursor of modern art, he is, as Picasso said of him, "....the father of us all."