When NASA's executive director, Dan Truman, realises the earth has 18 days before it's obliterated by a meteor the size ot Texas, he has only one option - land a ragtag team of roughneck oil drillers on the asteroid and drop a nuclear warhead into its core. But as NASA's under-funded yet resourceful team train the world's best drillers for the job, the social order of the world begins to break down as the information reaches the public and hysteria results.