Cezanne et Moi traces the parallel paths of the lives, careers and passionate friendship of post-impressionist painter Paul Cezanne and novelist Emile Zola. The two boys grew up in Aix-en-Provence. Emile was fatherless and poor. Paul came from a wealthy family. As young men, dreaming of glory and beautiful women, they left the south to conquer the art scene in Paris. Soon Emile had it all, success, money, and the perfect wife, and embraced the very bourgeoisie he mocked in his books. Meanwhile, Cezanne rejected the Parisian scene to focus only on his work, ignored by his peers and the establishment.