My Afternoons with Margueritte is the story of life's random encounters. In a small French town, Germain (Depardieu), a nearly illiterate man in his fifties and considered to be the village idiot by his friends at the local bistro, takes a walk to the park one day and happens to site beside Margueritte, a little old lady who is reading excerpts from her novel aloud. She's articulate, highly intelligent and frail. Between Germain and Margueritte, there are 40 years and 200 pounds difference. Germain is lured by Margueritte's passion for life and the magic of literature from which he has always felt excluded. As Margueritte broadens his mind via reading excerpts from her novel, Germain realizes that he is more of an intellectual than he has ever allowed himself to be.