Part 1: Heritage of the Past. A farmer cuts wheat in a field with a horse-drawn harvester; others collect it into stooks. A woman gathers flowers as birds sing in the trees and the voiceover describes the memory of an idyllic rural past. A country church and thatched cottages; a busy market square, where the products of the soil are exchanged for those of the town. A series of arable landscapes.

Part 2: The Smoke Age. A map of Britain shows the six main coal regions. In a coalmine, wagons are moved and loaded, producing steam power for industry. Windblown trees and time-lapse clouds are used to show the effects of industrial smoke blocking out the sun and changing the landscape. Images of workers and machines, furnaces and chimneys, alongside shots of a graveyard, illustrate crowded industrial activity in the coal regions. Slums and slag heaps show the lack of planning in building.

Part 3: The New Power. The path of a river from its source, downstream to the reservoir of a hydroelectric power station. A coal fuelled power station, showing its machines, operation and staff. The pylons that carry electricity out to the towns and countryside, bringing independence from the coalfields.

Part 4: The New Age. Workers clear the slums and build new architecture, bringing new shapes and forms. Developments in transport shown through London Underground trains and cars on new roads. New residential flats and factories. Girls exercise in a schoolyard. On a hill, a man and a woman look out on a country landscape.