Born in Portugal in 1935, Paula Rego at the age of eight decided to become a painter. She came to England as a young woman, and achieved such success that in 1990 she was appointed Associate Artist at the National Gallery, the first post of its kind. This film shows Rego discussing her work with the mixture of childlike enthusiasm and poetic eloquence that characterizes her paintings. Her work defies categorization, in terms of style and subject matter, and is both powerful and deeply personal, with its roots in memories of her own childhood, in nursery rhymes, religious themes, the imagery of her native Portugal, and the people who figured largely in her early years. With contributions from critic Germaine Greer and art historian Ruth Rosengarten, the film was shot partly in London and partly in Portugal; it is a journey into Rego's past, an exploration of her inner world and a study of the way she reconciles her status as a distinguished British artist with the strong cultural influences of her Portuguese background.