The play concerns efforts to thwart a massive, Christmastime nuclear attack from a fleet of Russian submarines located off the coast of the United States.

Stanley Smith, a Soviet agent and explosives expert (played by Tab Hunter), prepares at "Little Chicago" outside Moscow for an undercover assignment.

The planes were destroyed because Smith concealed pressure bombs, set to explode at 25,000 feet, in coffee thermoses used by the airmen on the B-99s.

Price believes the enemy seeks to have the B-99s grounded in order to open a window to attack while the American retaliatory ability is ineffective.

[1] Smith is given truth serum, and American air and naval forces destroy the Soviet submarines as they approach the coast.

In May 1956, Martin Manulis, producer of a new CBS series, Playhouse 90, announced he had acquired television rights to Pat Frank's novel Forbidden Area.

[2] CBS later announced that Forbidden Area, with the story adaptation for television by Rod Serling, would air as the premiere installment of Playhouse 90.

[4] Manulis also assembled an all-star cast for Forbidden Area, including Charlton Heston, Tab Hunter, and Vincent Price.

[8] In The New York Times, Jack Gould wrote that the production "ran the gamut of hokum" and employed "every cliche in the book of elementary video dramaturgy.

"[10] John Crosby of the New York Herald Tribune wrote that the production, depicting Russia on the march with planes and submarines, "all groaning with hydrogen bombs, intent on knocking out this country", had its moments "as a thriller.