Scientists believe that humans and a type of chimpanzee called the bonobo split onto separate evolutionary paths only five million years ago, a mere eye blink in evolutionary time. Because the two species shared an ancestor recently, only 50 genes separate their ways of thinking and learning. Umber is one such young chimpanzee. Placed with Professor Dutton at Colorado State University, she has become much more than a project animal. As the years pass, she aquires a huge vocabulary in sign language; she can use a computer, tools and kitchen appliances and becomes a 'sister' to Dutton's daughter.