 A giant, global-killing asteriod, like the one that killed off the dinosaurs 65 million years ago is 18 days away from hitting the Earth. NASA s been caught with their pants down and needs a new plan to stop the rock. They enlist the help of Harry Stamper, an expert deep core driller, to train their astronauts and help them drill into the asteroid and plant a nuclear bomb. But Harry figures the astronauts can t be trained in time and opts to go with his own oil drilling crew.