The film documents environmentalists' opposition to the mine as unsympathetic to the needs and desires of the locals, prevents industrial progress, and consequently locks the people of the area into lives of poverty.

[2] The documentary follows Gheorghe Lucian, a 23-year-old unemployed miner from the Roşia Montană in northern Romania, whose chance of a new job disappeared after an anti-mining campaign orchestrated by foreign environmentalists.

He cites among other serious concerns, the fact that high infant mortality rates are closely correlated with the sort of poverty that afflicts the region.

[5] The film notes that the foreign environmentalists who are barring the industrial development of the area are, at best, too far removed from the people of Roşia Montană to understand their true needs and desires, and at worst, cognizant of the serious problems, and still stubbornly denying them of their right to decide the fate of their own land for themselves.

To respond to the claim that the mining operation would destroy Roşia Montană's "quaint" appeal, McAleer also points out that one of the Romanian government's stipulations was that Gabriel Resources would be required to clean up the existing pollution (the soil and water near the village contain high levels of cadmium and lead), and also would be required to maintain a fund with $30 million to be used for further clean-up of the area after the mining company discontinues its operations there.