Plot Summary

Years ago, Jean Marsan had aspirations to be a scholar. He also had a very serious romance going on. His thick-headed, uncomprehending family soon put an end to both of those unacceptable behaviors, and he spent the rest of his youth tending cows on the family farm. Now he is old, his idiot family members have died, and he's about to sell the farm (now his) to a developer. However, there are still cows to take care of until the sale goes through, and he's not as agile as he used to be. When a young local fellow offers to help him with his farm chores, he grudgingly accepts and their initially antagonistic relationship deepens over the summer. The director of this film grew up in the French Alps on a farm similar to this one and has taken care that the details of farm management are accurately and precisely depicted. Of particular interest to cheese connoisseurs is the footage of the two men making a delicious but probably unhygienic local cheese.