 In Fort Lamy, French Equitorial Africa, idealist Morel (Trevor Howard)launches a one-man campaign to preserve the African elephant from extinction, which he sees as the last remaining "roots of Heaven." At first, he finds only support from Minna (Juliette Greco), hostess of the town s only night club, who is in love with him, and a derelict ex-British Army Major, Forsythe (Errol Flynn.) His crusade gains momentum and he is soon surrounded by an odd assortment of characters: Cy Sedgewick (Orson Welles), an American TV commentator who becomes impressed and rallies world-wide support; a U.S. photographer,Abe Fields (Eddie Albert), who is sent to do a picture story on Morel and stays on to follow his ideals; Saint Denis (Paul Lukas), a government aide ordered to stop Morel; Orsini (Herbert Lom), a professional ivory hunter whose vested interests aren t the same as Morel s; and Waitari (Edric Connor), leader of a Pan-African movement who follows Morel only for the personal good it will do his own campaign.