Dian Fossey's life story from childhood and her early days researching in Congo, through to her arrival in Rwanda, where she spent 18 years studying and protecting the mountain gorilla population. Through extensive and rarely seen archival footage, dozens of Fossey’s letters, interviews with friends and colleagues, and narration by Sigourney Weaver, the event series explores Fossey’s murder and the investigation and trial of her research student Wayne McGuire, who was found guilty in absentia of her murder by the Rwandan courts.