Energy companies pursue increasingly difficult methods of fossil fuel extraction at increasing costs to the people and the environment. “Backyard” examines four states that are presently in different stages of hydro-fracking development. The results are several powerful stories of people at odds with the natural gas extraction occurring around them.

Interspersed throughout these human stories is an animated reminder to “step back” and look at the bigger picture. 

In North Dakota, in the midst of a massive boom in the oil and gas industry, a woman's creek that runs downstream from several frack sites has stopped freezing in the winter, bubbles continuously, and has poisoned and killed her pets and livestock.

In Montana,  a couple that lacks the mineral rights under their ranch and must cope with the day-to-day reality of living on a drilling site. 

In Pennsylvania, a local store owner is pressured to sell land that's been in her family for generations. Though she holds out, she is surrounded by fracking's impacts, including having much of her family move away for fear of the adverse health effects.  

In Colorado, an ex-oil & gas worker tries to uncover the truth at a well site where he witnessed several toxic spills. Nearby, a resident of the small town of Parachute fights for his health and the safety of his home in spite of being told repeatedly by natural gas developers that his problems have no relation to the industrial activity that's been going on in his backyard for nine years.