The Battle at Our Shores follows over a period of one year the ground swell of opposition that has arisen over the first inshore/coastal oil and gas exploration licences to be given out in Canada in the province of Nova Scotia. It tracks this ecological and political controversy, which pits citizens' groups against their governments and industry. The cast of characters covers the entire gamut of society : fisher men and women, environmental activists, marine scientists, politicians, the oil and gas exploration and development businessmen and the bureaucrats who work in the public business of licensing resource exploitation. This documentary is also about the incredible wealth-generating marine and coastal ecosystem that is the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence. From its whales to the billion dollar a year commercial fishing and tourism sectors, to the natural beauty of this area, which is now faced with the most fundamental change to arise since the coming of the Europeans.