Being There

Chance (Peter Sellers) is not a man of great words. He is unfamiliar with written words, which he cannot read, and spoken words, which he can barely interpret sensibly. His expertise lies in gardening and its cultivation.

When the master of the house, for whose garden he has been responsible all his life, suddenly dies, Chance is confronted for the first time with the reality and the world outside this house. What is happening there, he only knows from the countless TV sets in his previous home. Fascinated, he wanders through the lives of people, who appear to him like television programs, and for whom he often has only platitudes from the world of gardening. However, his statements are often interpreted as much more than just gardening wisdom, and thus the seed for something greater is sown.