French writer-director Edouard Deluc's biopic of post-Impressionist painter Paul Gauguin (Vincent Cassel) focuses on his first voyage to French Polynesia, which took place between 1891 and 1893. Tired of Paris' stultifying conventions, Gauguin abandons his wife and five children to pursue newfound artistic inspiration in the jungles of Tahiti. He meets Tehura (Tuhei Adams), a young Polynesian girl who becomes his muse and lover.