An engrossing documentary film which examines the evolution of the American landscape through the eyes of John Brinckerhoff Jackson, considered by many to be the originator of landscape studies in the United States. The film is both a portrait of the man and a portrait of America's human-made landscape. Figure in a Landscape moves through time and across the country, from the deeply rooted Puritan New England village to the temporary landscape of the road, the shopping mall, and the trailer park.