The most comprehensive documentary of the Ellis Island story in all its complexity. We take you behind the scenes into the memory-haunted ruins of unrestored Ellis Island. REGISTRY ROOM – BAGGAGE ROOM – RAILROAD TICKET OFFICE – TREASURES FROM HOME – ELLIS ISLAND CHRONICLES – SILENT VOICES – MEDICAL EXAMINATION ROOMS – AMERICAN IMMIGRANT WALL OF HONOR – MUSEUM DEDICATION AND MORE. THE MUSEUM Our cameras trace the saga from the old world where it all began to the Ellis Island Immigration Museum. Our nation’s monument to its immigrant heritage, and the inspiring story of the immigrant’s lives in the new world, truly a memorial to the common people, it is testimony to the indomitable spirit of the 12 million souls who trod it’s ground seeking entrance to America. THE IMMIGRANTS They came from every point of the compass. Every race and creed. They spoke a babble of tongues and tightly clutched a dream…America. Some came to escape poverty, political or religious persecution. Some were driven by the passion for adventure. Experience the profound human drama of ordinary people caught up in the tides of history as Ellis Island plays its roles before, during and after the peak immigration years. THE LEGACY People were born here, married here and some died here. Dreams, hopes and disappointments transpired here. Conjured in the ruins, the halls, the rooms, are the echoes of laughter and lament. Within the multitude of people passing through was the spirit and determination, which helped shape our nation. Here, within the glow of the Statue of Liberty, which beckoned the immigrant into the harbor, Ellis Island was the beginning of opportunity and achievement for those in search of the American Dream.