Set in the dramatic Badlands of western South Dakota—a region sculpted by erosion, militarization, dispossession, and preservation—the film unearths histories that have shaped the North American landscape. Through intimate documentary footage, deeply researched archival material, and speculative virtual worlds, Badlands immerses viewers in the stewardship of contested lands, while imagining restorative futures. 

Guided by Lakota ethnobotanist Richard T. Sherman's 'Indigenous Stewardship Model' the film weaves together a multiplicity of perspectives in order to explore how different ways of knowing—Indigenous, scientific, historical—can work together toward environmental justice. Centering the land, the film visits with a wide array of humans and non-humans including ecologists, tribal members, paleontologists, ranchers, military historians, tourists, foragers, rangers, rocks, flora, and fauna. These intertwine to create a deeply layered portrait of place across vast scales that poetically yet urgently reckons with how to foster interdependent and accountable relationships between inhabitants of all landscapes.