When a satellite falls to earth near a remote New Mexico village, the recovery team finds everyone in the area dead, except for an infant and an old derelict. The survivors are brought to a five story underground lab - one of the most elaborate and intricate sets ever assembled in Hollywood - where scientists attempt to determine the nature of the deadly microbe before it starts a world-wide epidemic.

A trailblazer in the realm of science-fact, The Andromeda Strain is based on Michael Crichton's best-selling novel that created national paranoia for its topical relevance to the first moon landing.