After performing an autopsy, pathologist Francis B. Gröss tells the viewer that he is interested in the transitional periods of life and death thanks to a recurring dream. At the same time, his experience as a pathologist has desensitized him to grotesque deaths. He has compiled footage to understand the many "faces of death."
Footage is played of various deaths, including a man killed by an alligator, which Gröss calls a "violent retaliation from a creature who has suffered continued abuse from mankind". Gröss next narrates over recordings of assassinations, stating that humans are the only species to kill for greed. Assassin François Jordan is interviewed and admits that he kills solely for payment, not for political or social value. If there were a case on which he had thoughts, he would immediately, but respectfully, decline the mission. Gröss introduces another type of killer, "the one who kills for no apparent reason." A gunfight ensues between a SWAT team and an armed murderer. During the gunfight, the SWAT team throws tear gas into the house of the murderer, who is later shot, after which the team enters the killer's house to find his family stabbed to death; Gröss questions whether the man's actions were caused by society. As criminal Larry DeSilva is executed by electric chair, Gröss questions "if two wrongs make a right."
Gröss visits the Los Angeles County coroner's office, where Dr. Thomas Noguchi is embalming multiple corpses after their autopsies. One cadaver is a horrifically bloated drowned woman; the other is a decapitated man whose skin is peeled off his skull for examination. Gröss asks Noguchi for his thoughts on his own embalming process after he dies, to which he replies: "life is purely a transitory state."
One man, Samuel Berkowitz, has his body subjected to cryopreservation after death; his bodily fluids are replaced with a liquid with a low freezing point, then he is stored in a freezer to preserve his body for future science to revive him. The "theater of preservation" transitions to a brief discussion on suicide with footage of a woman jumping from a building; Gröss admits this was "a face of death he wishes never to face again."
The next segment displays war and atrocities in history, including the Holocaust. Footage of German forces slaughtering enemy forces is shown, as they were becoming more desperate in the latter years of the war. The segment ends with footage of Nazis being obliterated in battle and symbols of Nazism destroyed, with Gröss saying that Hitler "lost control not only of his army but of his mind."
Footage of animals dying due to litter and pollution is shown, followed by sick children in impoverished villages. Nature is examined with footage of a search party finding a body in a cave, a drowned man recovered at a beach, and footage of a bear mauling irresponsible campers. More of the "horrific nature of man" is examined with footage of a venomous snake cult in Louisville, Kentucky, killing a handler and a cannibalistic cult eating a cadaver stolen from a morgue before partaking in an orgy.
Footage of several more tragic accidents is shown, culminating in a scene of a person attempting a parachute jump but dying after the parachute fails to open correctly. Gröss disputes the notion that this death was quick and painless, as he would have been conscious and aware of the entire fall to the ground. The segment ends with a section on PSA Flight 182 and its grisly aftermath, featuring photographs of the accident, excerpts of audio from air traffic control, and footage of scattered body parts and destroyed houses at the crash site in San Diego. Numerous witnesses are seen, including horrified people from the neighborhood and disgusted first responders. Gröss states the neighborhood smells like "rotting bodies and jet fuel" and that a mutilated body with only its torso and right hand "is the worst face of death."
Gröss introduces his next topic, the role of supernatural forces in death. He meets with architect Joseph Binder, whose wife and son both died under tragic circumstances. Binder confides to the viewer that he believes his family remains as ghosts in his house, attempting to communicate with him. To verify this, Gröss enlists the services of parapsychologists. The team takes photographs of footprints and two apparitions. Binder communicates with his family's spirits through a medium, seemingly confirming the existence of life after death.
After studying Binder's case, Gröss concludes that "when we die, it isn't the end" as "the soul in each of us remains a traveler forever." Gröss questions whether death is "the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end" and leaves the footage he has shown to the viewer's interpretation. The film ends with peaceful music, footage of a baby's birth, and photos of the child and its mother being together and happy.
