It chronicles the life and death of bear enthusiast and conservationist Timothy Treadwell and his girlfriend Amie Huguenard at Katmai National Park, Alaska.

Treadwell and Huguenard, both from New York, had bonded over their common passion for bears and animal conservation, and she would occasionally accompany him on his trips to the park.

Having stayed past the summer season one year, the pair were attacked and killed in the park by a bear on October 5, 2003.

This put him and Huguenard at greater risk, as bears are aggressive during this period and search for food to store up calories for hibernation during the winter.

After an investigation, the coroner and park police gave the wristwatch to Jewel Palovak, an ex-girlfriend of Treadwell.

In addition to presenting views from friends and professionals, Herzog narrates and offers his own interpretation of events.

Herzog notes that nature is cold and harsh; Treadwell's view clouded his thinking and led him to underestimate danger, resulting in his death and that of Huguenard.

He gained some national notoriety for his association with the bears and founded Grizzly People with his friend Jewel Palovak.

"At best, he's misguided," Deb Liggett, superintendent at Katmai and Lake Clark national parks, told the Anchorage Daily News in 2001.

In October 2003, at the end of his thirteenth visit, he and his girlfriend Amie Huguenard were attacked, killed, and partially eaten by a bear.

Producer Erik Nelson had begun work on developing a narrative television special based on Treadwell's life and career.

With the project being developed as a documentary, they contacted Jewel Palovak in order to use Treadwell's archival footage.

Palovak, co-founder of Grizzly People and a close friend of Treadwell's, had to give her approval for the film to be produced, as she controlled his video archives.

After her friend's death, Palovak was left with control of Grizzly People and Treadwell's 100 hours of archival footage.

"[6][7] Grizzly Man premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and its limited US theatrical release began on August 12, 2005.

[9] At its widest point, it played at 105 theaters, and made US$3,178,403 in North America during its run, with $882,902 overseas for a worldwide total of $4,061,305.

[11] David Denby of The New Yorker said: Narrating in his extraordinary German-accented English, Herzog is fair-minded and properly respectful of Treadwell's manic self-invention.

[13]Charlie Russell, a naturalist who studied bears for many years, lived near them and raised them for a decade in Kamchatka, corresponded with Treadwell and wrote about the film:[14] Herzog is a skillful filmmaker so a large percentage of those who watch the movie Grizzly Man, overlook Timothy's amazing way with animals even though to me this stands out very strongly.

The fact that Timothy spent an incredible 35,000 hours, spanning 13 years, living with the bears in Katmai National Park, without any previous mishap, escapes people completely.