Eccentric painter Gulley Jimson (Alec Guinness) is released from a one-month jail sentence for telephone harassment of his sponsor, Mr Hickson (Ernest Thesiger). Nosey Barbon (Mike Morgan (actor)), who wants to be Jimson's protégé, greets Jimson at Wormwood_Scrubs_(HM_Prison), but Jimson tries to discourage Nosey from pursuing painting for a living. Jimson steals Nosey's bike to make his way back to his houseboat, which his older lady friend Coker (Kay Walsh) has been maintaining in Jimson's absence.