Ben journeys to the freezing coastal waters of Iceland to live with Hakon, a former carpenter who overcame alcohol and embraced a clean, solo life in the wilderness on an private island.

Ben meets a scientist in Siberia, who gave up his urban life to work in the Russian Arctic on finding ways to reduce the impact of climate change on the permafrost. His project makes use of steam machines and monster trucks, but away from his environmental work, he is working on the idea of bringing the woolly mammoth back from extinction.

Ben meets Lucy, who left Britain to start a new life with her husband Tim on New Zealand's north island. They now live with their two daughters in a yurt beside a river in the middle of 25 acres of woodland they have transformed into a farm. Ben discovers how the forest provides the family with everything they need, getting a taste of their daily routine of chopping wood and foraging for wild foods. He also discovers how the couple are providing their children with an alternative education and the campaign of activism Lucy has embarked on from their wilderness home.

Ben visits an ex-photographer who lives an isolated life in the wilds of Oregon, harvesting weeds for nutrition. There, Ben experiences a Native American-inspired sweat lodge.