The film takes place in 18th-century France, where Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (played by Ben Whishaw) is born with an extraordinary sense of smell. Despite being abandoned by his mother and growing up in a poorhouse, Grenouille's keen sense of smell allows him to detect even the faintest scents. He becomes an apprentice to a perfumer, Madame Gaillard (played by Miriam Margolyes), and later to Giuseppe Baldini (played by Alan Rickman), a renowned perfumer.