Manu, also known as “Courgette”, is a naïve 9 year-old boy with his head in the clouds, who lives alone with his mother. She spends her days drinking in front of the TV, leaving him to get on with life alone. She says his father went off around the world with some “chick”, and Courgette firmly believes his dad is running around the planet with a farmyard animal for company. Then tragically, Courgette’s mother dies, leaving him an orphan. But despite this untimely loss and to some extent because of it new horizons open up to him. Courgette discovers the new world of the children’s home with charming naivety, and is not frightened by it. He becomes firm friends with his playfellows as well as with Rosy the governess, and the beautiful Camille with whom he falls in love. And then there’s Raymond, the policeman who brought Courgette to the home after the accident. Courgette does everything he can to see him again; this man who is suffering since the death of his wife, and struggling in his relationship with his own son.