In the 1920s a group of factory workers advocate for safer work conditions after some of their colleagues become ill from radium exposure.

The documentary begins by showing the transfer of elephants from a train; the narrator states that "the elephants need our help". It proceeds with Joyce Poole, an elephant biologist, discussing some of the characteristics of an elephant, including mirror recognition capability. Cynthia Moss and Katy Payne explain some of the habits of elephants. While discussing anthropomorphism of elephants, Indian scientist Raman Sukumar states that elephants have a love–hate relationship with human society. The documentary then describes elephant capture for public display in circuses and zoos.
After describing the role of elephants in the environment, the documentary depicts some of the training techniques at circuses using bullhooks. It then shows an "elephant healing area" created in Northern California by Ed Stewart and Pat Derby, founders of Performing Animal Welfare Society. Derby tells the reunion story of Wanda, an elephant from Detroit Zoo, and Gypsy, from one of the circuses from Illinois, who were together in a circus in 1980 and bought together again in 2005. It describes various incidents of elephant communication and their emotional bonding; and it relates the story of Topsy from Luna Park, Coney Island, and her electrocution on January 4, 1903.
The documentary depicts new bullhook-free techniques implemented at Oakland Zoo for elephants; it ends by raising an alarm against the ivory trade, stating that the current elephant killing rate would lead to extinction of the species in ten years.