Disaster is eventually averted by the detonation of nuclear missiles at the poles, releasing vapor that extinguishes the burning methane caused by the CMEs.

A crewed spacecraft, Galileo, is caught in the CME and destroyed; the tragedy is blamed on defective Russian equipment.

After a multi-millionaire, Lucas Foster (Mark Dacascos), funds a program to fight global warming, it is discovered that the Earth's atmosphere is now 5 percent methane.

The government officials and fellow scientist Joanna Parks (Joanne Kelly), his ex-wife, do not believe Foster either.

As the CMEs strike, it is determined that 25-megaton nuclear missiles fired at the North Pole will release vapor that will extinguish the methane flares.