首度执导电影的电视女导演琳妮李特曼在此片表现出非同一般的才能，珍亚历山大和威廉狄凡在此片中也有精彩细致动人的表演。剧情虚构了一次核子战争后，美国加州一个侥幸逃过此劫的家庭在极端艰难的环境中生存下来的故事。该片采用半纪录性的手法，通过日复一日观察剧中人的生活转变，让观众从近乎切身经历的遭遇中反省人类面临核战这一大悲剧，并暗示性地鼓励人们采取措施制止这类事件的发生。

Melinda comes to Washington DC to visit her friend Debbie, and to find a job in government, where she hopes to do her part to make it better. She gets a lower echelon administrative position at the Pentagon, and finds things pretty slack. Her boss seems to be more interested in getting into her pants than trying to find lost data on the Russians. Melinda resists his advances and begins working her way up in the Pentagon, finding subtle ways of getting her policies implemented by manipulating the slovenly males that populate the Pentagon, including finding a way to defuse the mounting conflict with the Russians