Opens with shot of oil tanker bow plowing through ocean surface. Men in oil-stained clothes secure wide hose to oil well. More oil-covered men work on the ship. Narrator discusses how places like Venezuela and Saudi Arabia export oil to us and import valuable, life-improving things from us in return, including things used in following shots: surgeons and nurses in gowns and face masks work on patient; gowned patient sits up in hospital bed as doctor examines him; man rides on red Farmall tractor in field; children write and read in classroom. Clips of Americans involved in getting oil: man hammers rock into pieces, man blow up explosives underground, oil tanker and oil barrels at dock, oil well and workers, man turns large valve in oil refinery, scientist in lab.