In 1939, Hungarian-born physicist, Leo Szilard, advances beyond the recent splitting of the atom -- which was believed to have no practical application -- and discovers the next step in physics that will make atomic energy and a bomb imminently possible. While working at Columbia University, Szilard must convince his colleague, Enrico Fermi, and the Physics Dean, George Pegram, to keep their atomic research secret and protect the world from a technology that could end all human life.
—Stuart Weinstock