As a binucleated African water mongoose cell and other fibroblasts travel across the field of view, the characteristic shape of migrating fibroblasts is demonstrated. The cells generally assume a roughly triangular form; their leading margins, which are comprised of flattened lamellipodia, are very broad, and their less-active trailing ends taper into a narrow tail. The tail region is called a retraction fiber or uropod. The structure exhibits contractile properties and can be seen periodically snapping back into the central portion of the cell. In some instances, fragments of the uropod are not completely released from the substratum, and the advancing cells are forced to abandon them in order to continue on their paths.

During the second half of the video, what appears to be a large, round cell fragment enters the upper field of view along the left-hand side and dances wildly across the culture medium while paying little heed to the other cells it encounters. Eventually the whirling dervish settles on the substratum. As it flattens, a nucleus and other organelles become observable, signifying that the erratically behaving entity is a cell, rather than just a fragment.

The ambiguity regarding the object prior to the appearance of the nucleus is due to the fact that organelles are not necessary for cell dynamics to take place. Cytoplasmic debris can sometimes be observed traveling across culture medium for long periods of time after it becomes severed from a cell. Thus, the impetus for movement is apparently not located in the nucleus, mitochondria, Golgi apparatus, or any other organelle. Instead, the actin cortex, which forms a peripheral layer around a cell located just beneath the plasma membrane, is thought to be responsible for most animal cell movements. Due to the treadmilling of actin filaments in the cortex, cell surface projections, such as lamellipodia, repeatedly are extended and contracted.