At the critical point of the Cold War, two US Air Force airmen monitor their radar screens at a quiet and remote NORAD facility in Alaska.

The governments of Canada, Australia, and Argentina have joined the US in the embargo, which has caused severe food shortages and domestic unrest inside the Soviet Union.

A squad of 18 lightly-armed soldiers of the Alaska Army National Guard and Alaskan Scouts, which is on a training exercise, is discovered, ambushed, and killed by the Soviet invaders.

At Fort Wainwright, Colonel Jake Caffey (David Soul), a combat veteran of the Vietnam War, is sent by his commanding officer to locate the soldiers, who are 24 hours late in reporting back from the training exercise.

Using combat tactics that he learned in Vietnam, Caffey sets up a defensive perimeter around the pumping station making use of surplus lengths of large-bore oil pipe to establish a position from which to ambush the enemy.

The Soviet troops approach the pumping station, unaware of the American soldiers' presence until they trigger US land mines buried in the snow.

The US responds to the Soviets' continuing mobilizations, as officials recognize that they are consistent with a fictional contingency plan, Красный Флаг, or "Red Flag."

McKenna contacts Caffey by radio and asks him and his soldiers to hold out at all costs in the hope that the weather will break so that reinforcements can be sent to relieve them.

However, hardline members of the Communist Party and the KGB, who remain incensed by the Soviet food shortage, suddenly launch a coup d'état.

Once the telephone conference ends, McKenna submits to the National Security Council his belief that Gorny has been killed and that total war is imminent.

[1] The film focuses on a number of Cold War themes, including brinksmanship, political loyalty and the mutual distrust as both sides attempt to resolve the issue diplomatically while they escalate their military alert levels to force the other to back down.

The cast included Rock Hudson as the US president, Brian Keith as the Soviet premier, and Cathy Lee Crosby and David Soul as US military officers.

It includes the sound effects of missiles and jets escalate in tone and volume and concludes with a shot of a sunset and a quick cut to black.

A novelization of the teleplay, which differs from the miniseries as aired in several key respects, was written by Harold King under the pen name Brian Harris.