How 'The Day After' tapped into fears of a Nuclear War In 1983: 30 Minute To Die.

How 'The Day After' tapped into fears of a nuclear holocaust

Two years in the making, “The Day After” was conceived at ABC in the wake of the 1979 film “The China Syndrome,” an Oscar-nominated fictional account about a near-meltdown at a California nuclear power plant that starred Jack Lemmon and Jane Fonda. A cautionary tale, the new film would explore the idea of everyday life for ordinary Americans in the aftermath of a nuclear strike in their own backyard.

In the mid-1980s, the U.S. is poised on the brink of nuclear war. This shadow looms over the residents of a small town in Kansas as they continue their daily lives. Dr. Russell Oakes (Jason Robards) maintains his busy schedule at the hospital, Denise Dahlberg prepares for her upcoming wedding, and Stephen Klein (Steve Guttenberg) is deep in his graduate studies. When the unthinkable happens and the bombs come down, the town's residents are thrust into the horrors of nuclear winter.