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.

After a young couple moves into an old house to find some peace and quiet, soon they find themselves confronted with awkward neighbors, strange noises inside their new home. Soon they struggle to determine what is reality and what fiction.