Set in an old-fashioned Normandy country home, the opera tells the story of an unruly child who is reprimanded by the objects in the room he was destroying. In the second part, the bedroom becomes a garden, filled with singing animals and plants, which have been tormented by the child as well. A squirrel is hurt, the child bandages the squirrel and the animals have a change of heart, they carry him back home as they praise him and call for his mother.