Patti Smith arrives in New York at age 20 and disrupts rock, poetry, and genre conventions. Without ever entering the field of play, she has become a living legend. A poet, a performer, and an actress. Also militant. A thousand-year-old artist who has led a thousand lives. Life of Patti Smith is the subject of this documentary. Before childhood, the artist who says: "I desired to be extraordinary. I felt detached. I felt distant from not only other children, but the entire universe. I believed I was an alien during my childhood." Patti's mother, a Jehovah's Witness, provided her with a religious education as she grew up in rural New Jersey. However, Patti Smith departs the movement because it does not suit her creative tastes.