"The Hawaiian Islands are a paradox, a place of idyllic beauty shaped by the most brutal forces of the natural world," says executive producer Fred Kaufman. "In this film, our focus is on the surprising elements that few would ever associate with a tropical paradise."

Those elements include lava flowing freely down mountainsides, violent storms, rockslides, and, above a certain elevation, heavy snows.

Almost every day on the Big Island, Kilauea spews molten rock, providing the best place on the planet to observe an eruption at close range.

The cameras follow geologists Carl Thornber and Tim Orr as they study a superheated vent to get a sense of what the volcano will do next.

Using simple methods to collect their lava samples, Thornber and Orr hope the composition of the lava can tell them how and where it was formed.

One of Hawai'i's most famous extinct volcanoes, Diamond Head, looms above the beaches of Waikiki. Few visitors realize that long ago, this too was the scene of a violent eruption, as lava exploded from the crater and spilled into the sea.

The program explores the stretch of coastline on the north shore of Maui called Pe'ahi. Waves that originate as far away as Siberia sometimes rise to as much as 70 feet as they break here, earning both waves and the beach the nickname "Jaws." Monster waves like these are seen only rarely, but lifeguards are vigilant for any sign of them because they can swallow a person in an instant.

Rising far above the sea is Mauna Kea, which at almost 14,000 feet rises above 40 percent of the Earth's atmosphere, making for ideal stargazing. The summit of Mauna Kea is usually barren and dry, and precipitation falls in the form of snow. Blizzards are common in the winter, with winds that whip up to 70-plus mph.

The film also ventures into the deep, warm waters surrounding the Islands, which serve as a protective nursery for thousands of humpback whales that arrive each winter from colder latitudes.

Here, females can give birth and nurse their young in safety, free from the threat of killer whales. Accompanying the females and their young are male escorts, which sometimes challenge each other for mating rights.

These giant creatures compete at first with bubbles, but sometimes move up to more violent means of combat, such as charging and ramming. Any contact at all between these mighty leviathans can result in severe injuries.

Nature, now in its 23rd season, has won more than 270 honors from the television industry, parents groups, the international wildlife film community, and environmental organizations, including many Emmys, the George Foster Peabody Award and the first award given to a television program by the Sierra Club.