A team of Italian film makers go to Irian Jaya in western New Guinea to film the life and work of tribes still living in a primordial state. Among these tribes, some of whom are not entirely peaceful as far as human relationships go, the team meets the Yali, the Mek pygmies, the Brazza natives and the Asmat tribe. One of these tribes killed and ate two American missionaries in 1968. The film also gives some evidence of what happened to Michael Rockefeller, son of the great American capitalist.