Eugene the architect designs buildings that are incredibly straight and orderly. He is very proud of his latest work-an enormous house with perfectly perpendicular walls and windows. One day he is surprised to find a tree growing in what will be the house's living room.

Instead of cutting it down, Eugene studies the tree, marveling at the way its branches, roots, leaves, and trunk grow in elegant proportions. Suddenly, Eugene sees nature in an entirely new way-not as the opposite of precise order, but as something with its own type of perfection.