Musician Anthony Edwards is feeling good after a first date with a cute waitress (Mare Winningham), but his night takes a turn for the worse when he answers a ringing pay phone and obtains a terrifying piece of information: The U.S. has just fired a nuclear missile and the end of the world is at hand. The action all takes place in real time, more or less, on and around Wilshire Boulevard, and the compact sense of time and place makes for a taut, riveting modern-day noir.