This footage documents a day from the 1982–83 blockade to prevent the damming of the Franklin River in Tasmania. It features environmental activists and concerned citizens engaging in direct action and gives insight into the creative tactics they used to keep the media spotlight on a months-long operation.

Nearly 1,500 people were arrested during the campaign, which ultimately succeeded in preserving a key wilderness area. The protests set a political precedent for raising environmental concerns in the Australian Parliament and sparked the birth of the Greens as a federal party.