Julie, a young French actress fluent in Portuguese, goes to Lisbon for the first time to act in a film based on Letters from a Portuguese Nun—a 17th-century novel. She is soon fascinated by a nun who prays on a hill every night. One night, she finally speaks with the nun and glimpses her destiny.

A solemn, Lisbon-set city symphony, the elegant, delicate, and most unusual The Portuguese Nun is quintessential Eugène Green. It features a honed staccato style reminiscent of Bresson; a love for baroque philosophy; shrewd and stylized monologues; and a highly deadpan sense of humor and romance.