This film follows artist Franklin Williams, a staple of the Bay Area Nut Art scene of the 1960's and 70's, over the year leading up to a retrospective of his work at the Art Museum of Sonoma County, his first major showing in decades. Through interviews with Williams, his curator and art historian Susan Landauer, his wife Carol, his students at California College of Art and others, the artist's process and passion for creating new work is revealed and the idea of what makes someone an artist is demonstrated. From his Petaluma studio, to his classroom, to the museum, through packaging, moving, hanging and ultimately showing his art on opening night, Franklin Williams emerges, at 77, as always, hopeful.