A Little Chaos

King Louis XIV of France assigns the design and construction of the Gardens of Versailles to his head landscape architect André Le Nôtre. Already managing numerous large projects, Le Nôtre interviews other landscape designers to whom he might be able to delegate some of the work. One of the candidates is Sabine de Barra, who is that rare thing in the 17th century: an independent professional woman.
When Sabine arrives on the palace grounds for her interview, she pauses to move a potted plant in the courtyard. Seeing this, André asks during the interview if she prizes order in design. When pressed, Sabine suggests that she would rather create something uniquely French than follow classical and Renaissance styles. André reminds her that everything he has built and designed follows order. Sabine apologizes and sincerely expresses admiration for him and his work, but André abruptly shows her the door.

André mulls over the candidates, under pressure to please the King. His assistant judiciously re-presents Madame de Barra's designs to him, prompting André to reconsider them.
André surprises Sabine at her home that evening, and after admiring her seemingly untamed but magical garden, assigns to her the outdoor bosquet ballroom project at Versailles, which combines fountains and landscaping. His original plans require a costly fresh water supply; Sabine suggests continuously recycling water through the fountains using a reservoir.
Sabine is befriended at court by the King's brother Duc Philippe d'Orléans and his wife Elizabeth Charlotte, Princess Palatine. Sabine and André are mutually attracted but do not act on their feelings due to André's marriage and their professional relationship.
Queen Maria Theresa dies suddenly. Stunned at her loss, the King takes refuge in the gardens at the Château de Marly, among the pear trees. Sabine finds him there, initially mistaking him for the gardener with whom she had hoped to trade some plants. The King enjoys her warmth and forthrightness, and even after she recognizes him, they continue their conversation as equals. He invites her to travel with him to the Palace of Fontainebleau.
André has been enduring his wife Françoise's infidelities; Françoise insists that the key to his success is her relationships and influence at court. When she senses his interest in Sabine and warns him against an affair, he quotes to her her own words about their right to seek comfort elsewhere.
Back at the Versailles garden site, Françoise confronts Sabine, and states that André's interest in her is transient. Later that night, Françoise's lover, at her request, opens the reservoir's sluice gates during a powerful storm, flooding the worksite and destroying much of the earthworks. Sabine nearly drowns trying to close it, but André arrives in time to rescue her. The next morning, she works vigorously to mend the damage. André later finds Françoise's glove there. Realizing she is behind the sabotage, he confronts her and effectively ends their relationship.
Sabine is introduced around court by the Duc de Lauzun and the King's mistress, the Marquise de Montespan. Once the Marquise and her female courtiers discover that Sabine is widowed and has also lost her 6-year-old daughter, they share their own losses and welcome her into their company.
The Marquise formally presents Sabine to the King when he arrives. Sabine offers him a Four Seasons rose – the same found in the garden where they had met. Conversing about the nature of roses and their life cycle, Sabine metaphorically defends Madame de Montespan, who has begun to lose the King's favor. Louis is again moved by Sabine's observations, calling her "a wise rose."
André waits for Sabine outside her home that night, and they finally have sex. In the morning, André finds himself alone in bed; Sabine is upstairs, traumatized by a recurring flashback of the day her daughter and husband died: prior to taking their daughter with him on a day trip, her husband revealed to Sabine that he had a mistress. Sabine saw that the carriage had a faulty wheel and racing after them, tried to stop the carriage. It veered off track, toppling down a steep hill and killing both father and daughter.
André finds Sabine mid-flashback, and convinces her to stop blaming herself for their deaths, calming her down.
At the inauguration of Sabine's completed bosquet garden, the King and his court arrive and dance to the music of a hidden orchestra, as the fountains send water coursing down the tiers around the outdoor ballroom floor. After Sabine dances with the King, she and André join hands and leave to walk into the forest together. The camera pulls slowly back and above the entire grounds of Versailles, revealing the enormous sweep of its grandeur.