Elephants in Africa. The pachyderms have a huge appetite. Under cover of darkness, they leave their retreat areas, trample down fences, plunder fields and leave behind devastated farmland. The farmers of Africa despair. Even when fetching water and collecting firewood, humans and animals increasingly get in each other's way. There are victims on both sides. Nature conservationists are therefore feverishly searching for methods to defuse the conflict between humans and elephants: In Tanzania, a researcher is developing a fence made of the acrid smell of chilli to drive the pachyderms from their fields. The film shows the effects of the human-animal conflict on both sides: On the one hand, it accompanies a family from whose circle a woman was killed by elephants while collecting firewood. Her loss tears a large gap into the arduous everyday life. On the other hand, he shows the elephant orphans of killed mothers, who have to be nursed and prepared for life in the wild with great effort around the clock for years. The focus, however, is on the Tanzanian researcher Ally Nkwabi, who, despite numerous difficulties, is trying to establish the method of the chili fence. He is convinced that the elephants will only survive if the conflicts between humans and animals can be resolved.