Isaac Newton spent as much time chasing the philosopher's stone as he did formulating the laws of motion, and this NOVA program follows the trail of evidence that only came to light when a trove of his private papers went up for auction in the early twentieth century. Buried among the manuscripts were notebooks on alchemy, records of chemical experiments conducted in secret, and extensive theological writings calculating the date of the biblical apocalypse. Historian Bill Newman, interviewed on his research into Newton's alchemical notes, argues that these pursuits were not eccentric distractions but connected to the same drive that produced the Principia, a belief that hidden forces governed the universe and could be found through careful, methodical work. The film sets this against Newton's public reputation as the father of modern physics, built on gravity and calculus, and asks how the same mind produced both. Correspondence and manuscript pages appear throughout as evidence, letting the film build its case on Newton's own words rather than speculation about his character.