American suburbs, built during decades of cheap oil, get a hard look here as an arrangement that only works as long as gasoline stays plentiful and affordable. James Howard Kunstler sets the tone early, describing suburban life as being "stuck up a cul-de-sac in a cement SUV without a fill-up," and the film builds its case around him and a group of peak oil theorists, urban planners, and energy analysts who argue that global oil production is at or near its maximum. Interviews trace how the automobile reshaped land use after World War II, turning walkable towns into sprawling subdivisions dependent on daily long-distance driving for work, school, and groceries. The 2003 Northeastern blackout appears as a preview of the kind of infrastructure failure the film expects to become common. Suggested alternatives include New Urbanist planning, smart growth, and denser walkable communities, though the film spends more time diagnosing the problem than detailing how a transition would happen. Its warning is blunt: the suburbs were built for a fuel supply that will not last, and no replacement energy source matches it.