This story takes its inspiration from a true story: a 19th-century scholar's all-consuming passion for hummingbirds.

A youth tracks the birds of his native Charente – but only to draw them. Which lands him in heated scuffles with boys who are good with a slingshot. But meeting botanist René-Primevère Lesson will prove a turning point in his young life. It is the early 19th century, and the scholar is preparing to travel around the world. The boy stows away and, a few weeks later, finds himself in Brazil among the hummingbirds: an incredible spectacle he discovers in the scholar's company. This is a story of shared passion, an apprenticeship in observation and drawing, and an encounter with the disconcerting young Lilia, who hunts hummingbirds to sell their brightly hued feathers on the black market.