Under the foliage of his model garden, an old man cultivates the art of living at the rhythm of the seasons. With his silver beard, straw hat and calloused hands, he fully resembles a rural misanthropist. A man without stories. But the intrusion of a young overly curious female student revives the gardener’s recent past. He is no ordinary old man. He is the famous Arnold Francart, the great explorer whose expeditions on the ice fields made the front page media. But why did Francart suddenly abandon his prestigious scientific career? Is this decision linked to the tragic disappearance of his assistance in the Canadian Great North? It is the answers to these questions that the young Barbara has come to find in the shade of the trees in bloom…