The film portrays Igor Stravinsky, one of the most fascinating artistic personalities of the 20th century. Numerous picture and sound documents trace his most important life and creative stations in Russia, Western Europe and America. Stravinsky is shown as a composer and conductor, as a private person and as a world citizen of music.
The film presents extensive film material that has been compiled from archives and collections in worldwide research. Some of the recordings used are being shown publicly for the first time, while other documents have not been accessible for decades. The spectrum ranges from the earliest film recordings in which Stravinsky can be seen as the conductor of his "Sacre du printemps" in 1927 to reports on the great concert tours that took him to Europe in the 1950s and 1960s. In between, Igor Stravinsky, energetic, humorous and quick-witted at the same time, is portrayed in numerous snapshots: The film observes him at work and while travelling, at press conferences and award ceremonies, at meetings with artists, politicians and good friends.