In 1981, Australian Tony Rinaudo arrives in Niger as a young agricultural scientist to combat the growing spread of deserts and the misery of the population. Radical deforestation has left the land desolate and once fertile soil depleted. But Rinaudo's attempts to stop the desert by planting trees fail and almost all of his seedlings die again. But then he notices a huge network of roots under the supposedly dead soil - a discovery that leads to an unprecedented greening campaign and gives countless people new hope.