Filmmaker Luis Buñuel is left penniless after the scandalous premiere of his film L'Age d'Or. However, his good friend, the sculptor Ramón Acín, buys a lottery ticket with the promise that if he wins, he will pay for Buñuel's next film. Incredibly, luck is on their side, so they set out to make the movie, an unconventional documentary about the desperately poor Las Hurdes region in Spain. Buñuel's initially callous approach to the extreme poverty and situations he encounters (or creates) gradually leads to a filmmaking experience that will transform him forever, in this deeply affecting and humanistic portrait of a legendary artist hunting for his purpose.