The story of Mary Anning, who was born in Lyme Regis on the southern English coast in 1799 and spent much of her childhood collecting "curiosities", or fossils, to sell to tourists. As she grew older, Mary began to realize that her discoveries held clues to understanding extinct species. After finding the first Icthyosaurus ever uncovered, her reputation as a fossilist grew, and over the following years she worked with scientists in the new fields of geology and paleontology.