Dr. John Martin, a negotiator for the Department of Energy Nuclear Response Team, is called in when a disgruntled grad student takes hostages at a university. The student, Seth Todtman, claims to have invented a cold-fusion bomb and is threatening to detonate it, killing millions, unless the government brings him five people on a list and kills them for him. Martin's colleagues dismiss Todtman as a crank, until a sample device he provides goes off with megaton force, wiping out a DOE team and the top-secret facility where they work. Faced with an impossible choice, Martin meets with Todtman face-to-face and tries to understand the logic behind his rage at the people he wants killed--cruel foster parents, corrupt professors, a heartless librarian. As the clock ticks, Martin tries to reason with Todtman, while the military tries to find a way to disarm the device. But, even if they stop Todtman, can they stop the knowledge he has unleashed on the world?