California's Salton Sea began as an accident: a 1905 engineering failure sent the Colorado River pouring into a desert basin for two years, creating the state's largest lake. By the 1950s it was a resort boomtown, drawing more visitors than Yosemite, with marinas, nightclubs, and celebrities like the Beach Boys and Sonny Bono. The film, narrated by John Waters, tracks what happened after the water turned toxic with agricultural runoff and salt, killing fish and birds by the millions and emptying the towns around it. Interviews carry the story: a nudist real estate agent still selling lots nobody wants, a former lounge singer clinging to the last hotel, and residents who remember the resort era firsthand alongside archival footage of the sea in its prime. Directors Chris Metzler and Jeff Springer treat the collapse with dark comedy rather than pity, finding people who never left and are not entirely sure why. It's a portrait of American boosterism gone wrong, told through the wreckage it left behind.