L'homme qui plantait des arbres (1987)

The self-effacing hero of the tale, shepherd Elzéard Bouffier, is a man of few words but great determination: single-handed he plants and nurtures a forest of thousands of oak trees, changing his arid surroundings into thriving oasis. The narrator's fascination with the man and his mission leads him to return time and again to the mountains, where he sees the wind-swept, forsaken landscape gradually transformed into green fields and meadows, thriving villages and prosperous framland, surrounded by Bouffier's incredible forest.