A small whitewashed fisherman's cottage stands alone on top of a rugged cliff on the coast of Brittany during a violent autumn storm. Enormous waves crash against the dark rocks below and explode into towering plumes of white spray and foam. The sky is a churning mass of slate grey, deep blue and purple clouds, with a single opening near the horizon where pale yellow light breaks through and touches the sea. The wind flattens the grass and gorse on the cliff top. In one small window of the cottage a warm orange lamp is burning, the only warm color in the whole scene. A lone figure in a yellow oilskin coat leans into the wind on the path toward the door.