Forensic investigator Scott Walter picks up the trail of Captain Kidd's lost fortune, moving from the 17th-century jail cells where Kidd was held in Boston to the crumbling mansions of the Astor family generations later. The film examines the original trial documents from Kidd's hanging and gets access to what is presented as his personal treasure chest, using them to test a bigger claim: that America's first millionaire built his fortune on a pirate's buried hoard. Walter weighs the persistent legend that treasure remains hidden on the Maine coast against an alternative theory, that Kidd's gold quietly became seed money for one of America's great financial dynasties. Interviews and archival documents carry the investigation, tracing how a 17th-century execution turned into a myth that historians and treasure hunters are still arguing over. The film treats the mystery as unresolved, laying out the evidence for both the buried-treasure story and the empire-building theory without settling on one.