On the morning of June 19th of 1914, a massive methane and coal dust explosion rocked the Hillcrest Collieries coal mine in the Crowsnest Pass of southwestern Alberta, Canada. Miners from nearby mines in the Crowsnest Pass, including Fernie and Hosmer in B.C, Coleman, Bellevue, Passburg, and Lethbridge in Alberta rushed to the scene, and struggled day and night to rescue or recover the bodies of their miner friends. At risk of life they braved the possibility of new explosions, roof collapses, poisonous gas, suffocation, and mine fires. Once the rescue and recovery efforts were over, the death toll stood at 189. Of the 235 men who entered the mine that morning, only 46 survived. With historical stills of the actual events, dramatised segments, and contemporary video of the mine site, The Devil's Breath tells the story of the founding, explosion, investigations, and final closure of the mine. A miner from Hosmer tells in a voice recording how he and his companions recovered the bodies of friends from the ruined mine, and in a personal memoir, a Ukrainian miner tells of his dramatic fight to stay alive, and to flee the poisonous gasses which nearly took his life. This investigative 48-minute documentary asks what happened and why, and in the process, discovers a poignant story of pain and loss never before told in such detail with facts and information hidden in archives until now.