It is January 1942 on the icy, hungry Côte d'Azur. Pierre Bonnard, at 75, has just buried his wife Marthe in the cemetery at Le Cannet and has no idea how he is going to survive the war. A young printer named Aimé Maeght (pronouned Mag) takes him emergency supplies and before long receives a few paintings - delivered by wheelbarrow - to sell in his furniture and radio shop on the Cannes seafront.

In nearby Vence, the elderly Matisse, watching Maeght from the sidelines, noted that "he may well be going to turn into a great picture dealer." There was an alarming blip when Maeght, who printed fake papers for the Resistance, came to the attention of the Gestapo, but he was saved because French police tipped off his wife Marguerite.