Hugues cannot get over the untimely death of his wife Blanche, who made him happy for ten years. He lives alone in his house in Bruges, a city he would like to be dead like his wife. The sorrowful widower has transformed the place he lives in into a shrine dedicated to his beloved wife. One day, he meets Jeanne, a ballet dancer, who looks like Blanche.

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.