British journalist Martin Bashir spends eight months with Michael Jackson, from May 2002 onward, filming at Neverland Ranch and on trips to Las Vegas, Berlin, and Africa. Bashir's camera follows Jackson through shopping sprees, backstage moments, and conversations about his childhood, his skin condition, and his relationships with children, including Gavin Arvizo, who appears on camera holding hands with Jackson and describing sleepovers at the ranch. Jackson defends the practice as innocent, comparing his bedroom to a sleepover with a favorite uncle, while Bashir's narration and follow-up questions keep pressing on how that looks from the outside. The film also shows Jackson dangling his infant son over a hotel balcony in Berlin and discusses his spending, his debts, and his estrangement from parts of his own family. Bashir gets access most journalists never get, and uses it to build a portrait that is sympathetic in places and damning in others. The broadcast triggered a criminal investigation into Jackson within months of airing.