80-year-old Thomas recounts his childhood and middle age through a series of flashbacks and dream sequences. Thomas believes he’s been taken away from a better life at birth; following a hospital fire, he vividly recalls being swapped with another new-born, and subsequently grows up in a poorer neighbouring household.

When Anna, a twenty-eight-year-old photographer, is put in charge of a report on the restoration works at The Ostend Museum of Modern Art, she discovers by chance five paintings signed Constant Permeke, whose power and mystery move and fascinate her.She decides to embark on a quest to find out about who Permeke actually was, the places where he lived, how he worked, what experiences he went through.