Presents a picture which encompasses science, natural history and a deeper--almost spiritual--aspect of bears and pandas. Describes the close interrelationship they have with humans, how they suffer by our hand and how attempts are being made to reverse the damage we've done. Shows bears as symbolic of the natural world, both in their own right and in the way that humans treat them. Describes bears' uniqueness among carnivores and charts their every living, breathing and dying moment.