Botswana holds roughly 130,000 elephants, more than any other country, and the film follows the fallout of that success. Reporter Florian Nusch rides along on a licensed hunt, visits villagers whose huts have had their roofs torn open and whose crops have been trampled, and tracks a herd with researchers trying to measure how much room is left for both animals and people. A local taxidermist explains the trophy trade that brings tourist dollars into the country, while an animal rights activist and a visibly pessimistic scientist argue the opposite case, that hunting is not the answer. The story turns on one hunt that goes wrong when the wrong elephant is shot, followed by a village celebration once meat from a legal kill is distributed. Botswana's government defends the hunting quotas as the price of funding conservation, and has even floated sending 20,000 elephants to Germany to make the point. The film lays out the argument without settling it, letting hunters, villagers, and critics each make their case on camera.