Cheese maker Hans Guntisberg lives after the death of his wife alone and filled with bitterness outside a small village in the Swiss Alps. Although retired, he still works hard to run his small dairy. His daughter Maria lives in the village with her daughter and her husband, the marketing chief of the nearby cheese factory. To his son who was supposed to take over the business but ran off to Australia instead, Hans lost all contact. After a snowstorm Hans finds dark skinned Rashid Mamadou in his goat shed, a refugee from Mali, illegal, sick, and with no possessions. The stranger forces Hans to re-evaluate his relationships and his talent for making cheese - and to find a new grasp of what it means to be a human being.