Editing The Day After (section)

== Plot ==
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Dr. Russell Oakes works at a hospital in [[Kansas City, Missouri]], and spends time with family as his daughter Marilyn prepares to move away. In nearby [[Harrisonville, Missouri|Harrisonville]], farmer Jim Dahlberg and family hold a wedding rehearsal for his eldest daughter Denise. Airman Billy McCoy, serving with the [[351st Missile Wing|351st Strategic Missile Wing]], is stationed at a [[Minuteman (missile)|Minuteman]] launch site in nearby Sweetsage, one of many such silos in western Missouri. Next to the site, the Hendrys tend to their farm chores and mind their children. Background television and radio reports reveal information about a [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] buildup on the [[East Germany|East German]] border. East Germany blockades [[West Berlin]], and the United States issues an [[ultimatum]] and places its forces on alert, recalling McCoy from his family at [[Whiteman Air Force Base]].

The following day, [[NATO]] attempts to break through the blockade at [[Helmstedt-Marienborn]]. [[Warsaw Pact]] [[Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25|MiGs]] hit Würzburg, [[West Germany]]. Moscow is evacuated. At the [[University of Kansas]] in [[Lawrence, Kansas]], near Kansas City, the word goes out that the Soviets have invaded [[West Germany]]. Soviet forces drive toward the [[Rhine]] in an armored thrust, using [[tactical nuclear weapon|tactical nuclear weapons]]. Pre-med student Stephen Klein decides to hitchhike home to [[Joplin, Missouri]], while Denise's fiancé Bruce witnesses a crowd of shoppers frantically pulling items off the shelves as both sides attack naval targets in the Persian Gulf. Jim prepares his cellar. People start to flee Kansas City, and the [[Emergency Broadcast System]] is activated. NATO attempts to halt the advance by [[Air burst|airbursting]] three nuclear warheads over Soviet troops, while a Soviet nuclear device destroys the [[NATO headquarters]] in [[Brussels]]. US Air Force personnel aboard the [[Strategic Air Command|SAC]] [[Operation Looking Glass|Airborne Command Post]] receive notification of an incoming wave of 300 [[Intercontinental ballistic missile|ICBMs]], then activate their missile launch protocols, sending a wave of ICBMs towards Russia. The film leaves who fired first deliberately unclear.

McCoy flees his now-empty silo, telling his fellow airmen the war's effectively over. A [[high-altitude nuclear explosion]]'s [[Nuclear electromagnetic pulse|EMP]] disables vehicles and destroys the power grid. Nuclear missiles rain across the region on both [[counterforce|military]] and [[countervalue|civilian targets]]. Kansas City's last minutes are frantic. Bruce, Marilyn Oakes, the Hendrys, and McCoy's family are among the thousands of people incinerated, while the young Danny Dahlberg is [[flash blindness|flash-blinded]]. Dr. Oakes, stranded on the highway, walks to University Hospital at Lawrence, takes charge, and begins treating patients. Klein finds the Dahlberg home and begs for refuge in the family's basement.

Oakes receives [[nuclear fallout|fallout]] reports by [[shortwave radio|shortwave]] from KU professor Joe Huxley in the science building: travel outdoors is fatal. Patients continue to come and supplies dwindle. Delirious after days in the basement shelter, Denise runs outside; Klein retrieves her, but both are exposed to the thick radioactive dust. McCoy heads towards Sedalia until he learns of its destruction from passing refugees. He befriends a mute man and travels to the hospital, where he dies of [[acute radiation syndrome|radiation poisoning]]. Oakes bonds with Nurse Nancy Bauer, who later dies of [[meningitis]], and a pregnant woman pleads with him to tell her she's wrong to be hopeless.

In a radio speech, the [[President of the United States|U.S. President]] announces a ceasefire, promises relief, and stresses no surrender and a reliance on American principles, set to shots of filthy, listless, or dead Americans among the ruins. Attempts at aid from the [[National Guard (United States)|National Guard]] and infrastructural redevelopment prove fruitless, and [[summary execution]]s become commonplace. Jim Dahlberg is eventually killed by [[squatting|squatters]], while Denise, Klein, and Oakes are wasting away from radiation sickness. Returning to Kansas City to see his old home one last time, Oakes witnesses National Guardsmen blindfolding and executing looters. He finds squatters in the ruins of his home and attempts to drive them off, but is instead offered food. Oakes collapses and weeps, and one of the squatters comforts him. The film ends with an overlying audio clip of Huxley's voice on the radio as the screen fades to black, asking if anybody can still hear him, only to be met with silence until the credits, as a [[Morse code]] signal transmits a single message to the viewer: [[Mutual assured destruction|M-A-D]].

Most versions of ''The Day After'' include a textual ending disclaimer just before the end credits, stating that the film is fictional and that the real-life outcome of a nuclear war would be much worse than the events portrayed onscreen.