In the beginning we meet Virginia McKenna, actress turn conservationist as she introduces us to the Born Free film she was involved with, and shares the impact it had on her. Through a series of interviews and cut aways to archive of the Born Free Film, we gain an insight into why lions are important to her, her relationship with them and what the Foundation is doing as part of their campaign to halter their startling decline….

We then journey to the homeland of Elsa the lioness and the heartland of Joy Adamson- Meru National Park. Virginia’s voice guides us though a remarkable raw landscape in the foothills of Mt Kenya with its herds of zebra and elephants, it is home to the descendants of the original lions from the film. Here we meet Victor Mutumah of the Kenya wildlife Service and the rangers who fight tirelessly against poachers and bandits.

The reality of what’s causing the lions decline is revealed in the field- as the rangers track down snares and uncover the dismantled body of a female lion- poisoned by a local cattle farmer from the Borana tribe. As human populations encroach further into lion territory this often leads to human-wildlife conflicts and a fragile relationship between lions and locals. Is conservation on the agenda amongst the local people? An interview with a chief elder from the Borana tribe gives us an insight into where this stems from, and what was really thought about Joy Adamson- a conservationists who failed to include people as part of the solution. What does Born Free and the KWS need to do to change their views in on one of the last strongholds of lions in Kenya before its too late?