He lies among the shrubs and trees in his garden and observes the scurrying ants. This 94-year-old bearded man is Morikazu Kumagai, a.k.a. Mori, and he is a painter. For the last 30 years he’s hardly left his property. Most of his day is spent tirelessly observing his garden and all living things in it, which he renders in paint while his wife Hideko attends to a string of visitors. When some developers decide to build a condominium next door that would block his sunlight, Mori and Hideko decide to take action.