January 1964: America is embroiled in the Cold War. Tensions erupt following the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the United States and Soviet Union both possess massive nuclear arsenals.
A B-52 Stratofortress, icon of American airpower, must return to the U.S. for repairs. A USAF retrieval crew arrives in Massachusetts to fly the plane back to Turner Air Force Base in Georgia.
The crew expects a short flight but gets caught unaware and flies directly into an Arctic blizzard. The winds shear off the tail of the B-52, and the crew must eject at 30,000 feet into the blizzard. They land two miles apart from each other in the 52,000-acre rugged Savage River Forest of western Maryland.
The bomber goes on to crash in the mountains with two nuclear bombs on board.
In a massive attempt to retrieve survivors, 1000 people of the community and the U.S. military searched for five days.