The life and thoughts of an Enlightenment philosopher who suffered from chronic restlessness. A detailed biography which places special emphasis on his most influential texts and commemorates his tercentenary birthday. Using "Les confessions" as the leitmotif, the film alternates between readings by actor Roger Jendly, encounters with international experts and musings on Rousseau's travel destinations. Its manner does not conform to today's tempo, but rather seems to follow the rhythm of a thought as it unfolds, resulting in an inevitably dense portrait on the extraordinary life of one of the leading French philosophers of the Enlightenment.