Archaeology, as we understand it, didn't exist in 1758 when Johann Joachim Winckelmann made his way from the royal library in Dresden, Germany, to visit another private collection. He wanted to see the King of Naples's museum of statues, salvaged from crude digs at the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, 1700 years after their destruction in the eruption of Vesuvius in AD79. The king's guards refused him entry. But Winckelmann persevered, sneaking into the museum and the excavation sites, until he published an illicit catalogue of the finds that took the civilized world by storm, sparking a new interest in, and understanding of, the classical world. At last Winckelmann's life's work was recognized, but he had to fight to the end of his life for the ideal of scientifically accurate and responsible archaeology. In the 21st century, Andrew Wallace Hadrill directs excavations at the two lost cities. He is no stranger to controversy, such as: how to save the greatest unexplored library of the ancient world, at the Villa dei Papiri, threatened by flooding and the ever-present risk of a further eruption. This film tours the lost cities (including Pompeii's famous "red-light" district) with Andrew Wallace Hadrill, recounts the drama of Winckelmann's discoveries, and tells the story of the disaster itself, as witnessed by the unique human remains that give an almost minute-by-minute account of the day of destruction.