The film recounts the bombing of Cambodia by the U.S. in 1970, the subsequent brutality and genocide that occurred when Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge militia took over, and finally the amount of aid given by the west.

John Pilger vividly reveals the brutality and murderous political ambitions of the Pol Pot/Khmer Rouge totalitarian regime which bought genocide and despair to the people of Cambodia while neighboring countries, including Australia, shamefully ignored the immense human suffering and unspeakable crimes that bloodied this once beautiful country.