August 24th, 79 A.D. was a day like any other day in the ancient roman town of Herculaneum, citizens met in the town square, discussed a little Italian politics, talked business over lavish lunches. Herculaneum was a booming sea side town at the height of the Roman Empire, trade was good and the future looked bright little did this towns residences know that the clock was ticking, their beautiful town lay in the shadow of an active volcano, Mt. Vesuvius.

The inhabitance had absolutely no idea of the destructive power of this volcano, completely oblivious to the degree of danger. In 79 A.D. Vesuvius burst spectacularly to life and the town of Herculaneum was sadly buried alive. In this film we witness archaeologists effort to dig deep into the volcanic debris, discovering Herculaneum’s secrets as they go.

Here we find tunnels of ancient tomb raiders who plundered the site and from remarkable human remains that laid buried for 2,000 years these archaeologists are finally unraveling the mystery of what happened to the people in the towns last few tragic hours.