In 1974, the Arecibo radio message was sent into space, addressed to a potential extraterrestrial civilization. In 1977, the Voyager probe carried the Golden Record with it, like a message in a bottle sent out to other worlds. In 1995, the discovery of the first exoplanet orbiting a Sun-like star revived an ancient question: are we alone in the universe?

Around this question, the film investigates two fields: research laboratories, close to scientific space exploration; and the heart of our contemporary imaginaries, through encounters with groups and individuals who question the possibility of other forms of life.

Through each of these approaches, the search for life elsewhere questions what it means to be human in the way we imagine the living world — a crucial question today, in our relationship to our own planet.