It 17th century. The viola da gamba player Monsieur de Sainte Colombe comes back home to discover that his wife died while he was away. He assembles a house in his own garden into which, witch he moves to dedicate his life to music and his two girls Toinette and Madeleine , avoiding the world. Rumor about his music reaches into the court of Louis XIV, who would like him at his court in Lully's orchestra, and is more wide spread, however Monsieur de Sainte Colombe refuses. One day Marin Marais, a new man, comes to see him with no petition, he wants to be educated how to play the violin.