After her husband dies, aging Miss Helen begins to fill her home and garden in the remote South African bush with strange sculptures made from cement, glass, wire, and recycled materials like used beer cans and old headlights. As she seems to be increasingly unable to care for herself, Helen becomes the source of a struggle between the local pastor who wants to get Miss Helen into an old-age home, and Elsa, a young teacher who is determined that Miss Helen remain free.