By the 1980s, about 95% of the redwood forest in California is gone, the result of 150 years of timber cutting. In 1985, a Texas businessman named Charles Hurwitz buys Pacific Lumber Co, plunging the company into debt. Pacific Lumber is the largest private owner of the remaining old growth redwood forest. It soon becomes clear that Charles Hurwitz intends to clear cut the trees, which would be an environmental catastrophe.