From vaporous hot springs and lava fields to the peculiar structures of geothermal power stations, we go through the industrial and natural landscape of Iceland with two corresponding voice-overs from the past and present: poet W.H. Auden, reading Journey to Iceland (1937), and environmental activist Á“mar Ragnarsson. Auden's contemplative poem expresses a desire to leave behind the trappings of modernity and the approaching war. Ragnarsson's contemporary callings are a rallying cry to protect a vital wilderness, under threat from international aluminium corporations.