Ugolin has just returned to his native village, les Bastides Blanches in Provence, having completed compulsory military service. He has an idea to grow carnations on the land owned by his childless uncle, César Soubeyran, which he will inherit one day. At first sceptical, César soon realises the commercial potential of Ugolin's plans as a way of securing the Soubeyran fortune. Needing more land and a vital supply of water that will support their venture, he offers to buy his neighbour, Pique-Bouffigue's property, les Romarins, where there is also a copious natural spring. Pique-Bouffigue is antagonistic towards César, probably because César never married his sister, Florette. An argument ensues which results in the accidental death of Pique-Bouffigue.
Still hopeful of securing the property, César learns that les Romarins is to be inherited by Jean Cadoret, a city dweller and a tax collector, the son of Pique-Bouffigue's sister. Realising that les Romarins would be practically uncultivable without the almost forgotten spring, César and Ugolin plug it with cement, and then conceal it. César also ensures that the new owner will not be told of the existence of the spring by spreading the news amongst the local inhabitants that Jean Cadoret comes from the much hated village of Crespin. Jean, a hunchback, with his wife Aimée and their young daughter Manon, arrive at les Romarins with an ingenious idea to raise rabbits, grow produce and live the rural idyll. But his ambitious project is in direct competition with César's for the precious, scarce resources of arable land and water. César bides his time, instructing Ugolin to befriend the family so that when Jean's project fails he will be more than willing to sell the property to them.
After the Cadoret's first winter at les Romarins, planning their project in great detail, the springtime brings the family remarkable success, both with the growing of produce in their kitchen garden and the breeding of rabbits for market – much to the envy of the Soubeyrans. But after the arrival of summer, with a long period without rain, Jean's well soon runs dry and the family are forced to fetch water from a spring located several kilometres away at le Plantier. Despite his best efforts, Jean cannot transport sufficient water for his needs and so, in the baking heat of the Provence summer, his garden fails, his rabbits die, and the money they brought with them the previous year is all but gone.
But Jean does not accept failure. After mortgaging his property to César, he reads about dowsing in one of his books, convincing himself that he will locate an underground source on his land by divination. At a spot where he believes water to be, he digs down until he reaches bedrock. Still convinced he will find water, he dynamites the bedrock but is hit by falling rocks in the explosion and dies from his injury. Jean's wife, Aimée is forced to sell the property to César and prepares to depart from les Romarins. Triumphant, César and Ugolin rush to the hidden spring and unplug it, not noticing Jean's daughter, Manon, who witnesses their actions and the gushing forth of the water that her beloved father has lost his life for.
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