A down-at-the-heels New York journalist, Raymond McAndrews, has a long-standing passion for the Impressionist art of renowned and reclusive Brazilian painter, Thomas. The artist has removed himself from society and the art world for thirty years.
When McAndrews learns that the old artist may be alive in Rio, he flies to Brazil to investigate for his own edification. Through the homeless children of the Rio streets, he finds Tomas living in splendid isolation. In almost three decades, Tomas's only contacts have been the street children and the caretaker and cook of his secluded manse.
Tomas befriends McAndrews and reveals the epic canvas of his life in a series of taped interviews – from the artist's beginnings as a national prodigy to the events that alienated him from the world.
He gives McAndrews the most significant gifts of both their lives: renewed purpose and faith in friendship, the beauty of love and the love of beauty, and a mysterious package, crated and wrapped in brown paper – all life-changing.
Set in Rio de Janeiro and New York, this is a story of the dynamics of life and art.