Based on the story of Russia's first nuclear missile submarine, K-19: The Widowmaker finds Harrison Ford playing a sub captain, Alexei Vostrikov, who, at the height of the Cold War, is ordered to take command of the vessel away from its original leader, Captain Mikhail Polenin (Liam Neeson), in order to avert a nuclear meltdown when the ship's cooling system fails. They fear that if they don't succeed, the resulting explosion could be mistaken for a nuclear attack and could trigger a world war.