Max Boden, an ingenuitive desert naturalist, is trying to stop the construction of a copper mine on the outskirts of 1939 Tucson, Arizona. Through a series of arduously comical trials, Max learns to use a small motion picture camera to capture images of the unique local flora and fauna that would be destroyed by the mine.

A deputy must escort a longtime friend to be hanged for the crime of murdering his wife's parents. Along the way he discovers the startling truth about the murders, and is forced to face the real danger.