The film documents the nuclear tests performed around Bikini Atoll during Operation Crossroads in 1946, and their effects on the indigenous population and American servicemen involved.

There’s also a uniquely emotional quality thanks to the participation of two witnesses--Kilon Bauno, the chief of 162 Bikinians who were relocated throughout the Marshall Islands to clear the way for the nuclear invaders, and John Smitherman, a Navy pilot involved in dropping the bombs.”[8] The Washington Post wrote, “Stone's film is an eloquent, if harrowing, examination of the psychic and physical fallout of the testing, both on Bikinians and on unprotected American servicemen who were drenched in radioactive mists while monitoring the blasts.

Men shear lambs, grease them with Flashpoint cream and strap them to the decks of "target" ships in the Bikini lagoon to test the effects of the blasts.

There is footage of uncomprehending Bikinians leaving their home, of fresh-faced sailors walking, naked, into showers jokingly labeled "Radio Active," of military men hand-painting the name "Gilda" on a fat 20-kiloton bomb.

There are no interviews with anyone other than the victims of the disaster, and the focus is entirely on what is portrayed to be completely useless nuclear testing and the sheer callousness of the United States government for putting its servicemen at risk.