It is October 1962 and Cuban-based Soviet missiles point menacingly at the US. The threat of a nuclear Armageddon looms as Kennedy and Khruschev sit eyeball to eyeball.

Deep in his command bunker, Codes and Cypher NCO Dan sees the confrontation as the end of his hopes of an early discharge. A veteran of the atomic test programme, he knows first hand the effects of nuclear destruction. His life is complicated by his growing relationship with Ellie the nurse and his concerns over the health of his friend, Ernie.

The hedonistic lifestyle he shares with other service personnel is fuelled by regular indoctrination of the horrors of nuclear war in contrast with local civilian indifference. In the final days of October the crisis reaches its denoument resulting in a resolution of Dan's future, but not in the way he expected.