A week after the devastating explosion, an international team of rescuers finally get the green light to attempt to save the crew of the Kursk.

An examination of events that took place in August 2000 when Russia's Northern Fleet was running a naval exercise. A huge internal explosion sank the Kursk, a nuclear-powered submarine, trapping a group of survivors at the bottom of the Barents Sea. The documentary examines why the Russians took so long to accept international assistance and how the crisis and subsequent reporting changed Russia.