Engine 371 is a visual journey through a landscape transformed by "human progress." As a model train engine takes on a life of its own, it sets into motion both a playful exploration of movement and a poetic look at the consequences of our society's approach to growth. The films centres on a train enthusiast who naively embraces the modern industrial world. His locomotive hurtles through the landscape, revealing the spiraling effects of development. Resources are consumed with fervor. Nature gives way to factories pumping out smoke, and crowded cities replace pristine lands.