Because of a technical defect an American bomber team mistakenly orders the destruction of Moscow. The President of the United States has but little time to prevent an atomic catastrophe from occurring.

Mickey Arnold is a loving husband and a good friend to Ticker Welsh. However, when Mickey finds out that Ticker has seduced his wife, their friendship collapses. Now, the two are in a battle of wits, and Mickey can only win his wife back by getting first place in the annual Bible-Belt Race-a-Thon.

Documentary featuring interviews with director Sidney Lumet, "Fail-Safe" (2000) producer George Clooney, star Dan O’Herlihy and screenwriter Walter Bernstein.

Film critic J. Hoberman discusses the best-selling 1962 novel by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler on which "Fail-Safe" is based, along with the pervasiveness of nuclear paranoia in films of the sixties.

Michael Learned plays Mary Benjamin, a recently widowed woman who, confronted with her son's departure for college, decides to resume her career as a head nurse in a Manhattan hospital in this pilot movie for the short-lived TV series.