Paperman is a universal parable about overcoming one's limits - physical and psychological - and about the value of growth and change.

At the age of 17, James Lake had his right leg amputated due to a tumor. Locked in his bedroom, unable to move, he discovered cardboard to be the ideal medium (cheap, light) to communicate and tell his story. Today he is 46 years old and his cardboard sculptures, made with a technique that is unique in the world, continue to speak of human fragility. The film follows James on his journey from Devon, where he lives, to the Lucca Biennale of paper art, where he has been invited to create a monumental cardboard sculpture, the largest and most challenging of his career.