This multi-faceted film, photographed in both 1969 and in Paris in 1982, illustrates an anthropologist's actual fieldwork methods and personal relationships among the Baruya, and provides an in-depth view of the Baruya's traditional salt-based economic system. The film follows Dr. Godelier as he explores the complexities of food production and the effects of new technologies. He comments: "I have to find and bring together the different pieces of Baruya culture... That's my job, to find the story."