Footage of Liotta Total Artificial Heart console and interview with Haskell Karp, the first recipient of an artificial heart, as he wakes up 12 hours after surgery. The Liotta-Cooley Artificial Heart was designed to allow patients in heart failure to wait until a human heart was available for transplantation.

Demonstration from 4/7/1969 of cardiac replacement in two stages. First, after a failed attempt at surgical repair of the heart, a Liotta-Cooley artificial heart, Dacron tubes, and a Wada-Cutter hingeless valve prosthesis are implanted as a palliative measure. A donated heart is transplanted in a later surgery. A disposable bubble oxygenator is used. Film has voice over narration by Don Macon and illustrations.

Documentary coverage from 06/06-06/08 1969 of the Second World Symposium on Heart Transplantation held in Montreal, Quebec. Film includes interviews with surgeons and footage of the symposium.