A portrait of the Earth in the Anthropocene era at seven locations that have been transformed by humans on a grand scale: mountains being moved in California, a tunnel being sliced through rock at the Brenner Pass, an open-cast mine in Hungary, a marble quarry in Italy, a copper mine in Spain, the salt mine used to store radioactive waste in Wolfenbüttel and a tar sands landscape in Canada. The film weaves together observational footage of operating machines with conversations with workers. Alongside statements on work processes, environmental damage and technological change, the film makes this constructed world visible by subtly paring piles of grey matter, hills and mountains. The dimensions are gigantic, the proportions out of control; the world has slipped from humanity’s grasp.