Part 1, "The Fishing Chiefs" “The Fishing Chiefs”, refers to those Saugeen Ojibway chiefs responsible for managing the fishery. By extension, this episode investigates the Ojibway relationship with their waters and lands, and with the visitors who arrive, some invited, like the Métis traders and Methodist missionaries, and some unwelcome: the commercial fishermen who invade the fishing grounds. Treaties push the Ojibway onto ever smaller territories but they continue the fight to have their fishing rights recognized, right up to the present day.

Part 2, "The Last Frontier". The colonization period. Surveyors lay out roads and divide the land into lots. Immigrants from Europe pour into Ontario to buy lots, start farming and survive a year of starvation. Many small towns are founded. Weather observers and storm signals warn mariners of bad weather. Lumbering extends even into the Greenock Swamp and furniture factories profit from easily available timber, but clear-cutting leads to destructive bush fires. The settlers’ need for land impacts the Saugeen Ojibway and the Métis, and also alters the local ecosystems.

Part 3, "The Peaceful Path". The Peaceful Path”, the Bruce passes through two wars and the Depression. A stagnant economy is stimulated by the arrival of the world’s largest nuclear power plant. The revival is further boosted by an influx of tourists drawn to the county’s natural beauty and two new national parks. Nature conservation becomes the new imperative, at forest preserves, nature reserves and bird sanctuaries. The Greenock Swamp gains protection, as does the Niagara Escarpment, through the efforts of the Bruce Trail organization. The Bruce is energized and foresees a peaceful future for all peoples, Ojibway, Métis and European.

For thousands of years, people have been drawn by the beauty, abundance and mystery of Ontario's rugged Saugeen (Bruce) Peninsula. The Bruce is a three-part series exploring the history of this storied region. In Part 1, The Fishing Chiefs, the Saugeen Ojibway wage a 150-year struggle to maintain their fishing rights. They are finally vindicated in an historic court case. In Part 2, The Last Frontier, rapid colonization transforms the Bruce landscape and creates prosperous communities. But the population drops by 50% as sons and daughters leave for greener pastures in the west; depression and ghost towns follow. In Part 3, The Peaceful Path, the coming of tourists and the massive Bruce Nuclear Power Development jump-starts the Bruce economy. Conservationists recognize the region's ecological importance, and fight to keep it intact.