In the slums of eighteenth-century France, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is born with one sublime gift --- an absolute sense of smell. As a boy, he apprentices himself to a perfumer who teaches him the ancient art of mixing oils and herbs. But Grenouille's genius is such that he becomes obsessed with capturing the smells of objects such as brass doorknobs and frest-cut wood. Then one day he catches a hint of a scent that will drive him on an ever-more-terrifying quest to create the "ultimate perfume" --- the scent of a beautiful young virgin.