Since 1950, roughly 9 billion metric tons of plastic have been manufactured worldwide, and this PBS documentary traces where it ends up. Footage moves from recycling facilities to ocean gyres to landfills, following the film's central question of what actually happens to a water bottle or a grocery bag after it leaves your hand. Scientists and waste-industry workers explain how little plastic is truly recycled, how much is shipped overseas or incinerated, and how microplastics have worked their way into soil, water, and food chains. The film looks at communities near processing plants and coastlines dealing with washed-up debris, and it examines corporate and government responses, from bans on single-use items to new material alternatives being tested as replacements. It does not pretend there is one clean fix, laying out the tradeoffs between convenience, cost, and cleanup at each stage of plastic's life cycle, from production to disposal.