There is no plot as such to this movie, in one of the first screens it is described as, "... not a documentary, but an attempt to create an atmosphere by associating visual impressions and familiar sounds, intimately mingled with a musical score." The film shows the rhythms of machinery and the rhythm of the passing countryside. A steam train starts on a turntable, gradually gets faster and faster, and then the movie is over when it reaches its destination. The editing is designed to match the visuals with excerpts from Arthur Honegger's Pacific 231.