A tornado levels most of Greensburg, Kansas in 2007, and the town's leaders decide to rebuild it as one of the greenest communities in the country rather than simply restore what was lost. The series follows that rebuilding year by year, from new building codes requiring LEED-certified construction to wind turbines and other renewable energy going up alongside rebuilt homes and businesses. Cameras follow the mayor, local business owners, and returning residents as they argue over cost, argue over whether green construction is worth the delay, and slowly put a town back together plank by plank. Sustainable design experts appear throughout to explain the reasoning behind specific choices, from insulation standards to solar installation, grounding the bigger idea of a green utopia in ordinary decisions about roofs and budgets. The show treats the technical rebuild and the personal toll of losing a hometown as the same story, checking in on the same families as their houses go from foundation to finished. Greensburg becomes a test case for whether an entire town can choose to rebuild green out of necessity rather than ideology.