Using newsreel footage from the fifties, and archival interviews with artists, this video production juxtaposes major events of the time with comments from Canadian artists speaking about their explorations into the field of abstraction. We hear the views of Montréal artists associated with automatism, and of those opposed to it. Artists from Toronto, the Prairies and Vancouver also discuss various aspects of abstract art in the fifties in Canada. Among the artists heard from in this film are: Fernand Leduc, Paul-Émile Borduas, Jack Bush, Marcelle Ferron, Jack Shadbolt, Gordon Smith, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Harold Town, Rita Letendre, Paterson Ewen, Ron Bloore and Takyo Tanobe.