This documentary profiles legendary avant-garde filmmaker Stan Brakhage, who made more than 300 short films and features. Brakhage discusses his lengthy career, from his rise to fame in the early 1950s to his late-period experiments in scratching celluloid. Family members are interviewed about Brakhage's devotion to his art, while directors testify to his influence. When Brakhage is diagnosed with cancer, he wonders whether his work with film may literally kill him.