Invasion, U.S.A.

In a New York City bar, the brooding forecaster Mr. Ohman sits alone, nursing brandy while others chat. He engages with a cross-section of affluent Americans, challenging them with stark forecasts about safety, sacrifice, and the hollow comforts of wealth. The conversations set a tense, uneasy mood as the night unfolds.

The dialogue reveals a chorus of denial: international news is bad but not what they want to hear. They cling to material comforts, resist calls for industrial support of government, and reject sacrifice. Ohman warns that many Americans seek security yet refuse to pay the price.

Suddenly, the news shifts to a full-scale assault. The Enemy launches air attacks over Seal Point and Nome, with paratroopers landing on Alaskan airfields. The attackers begin converting civilian airfields into staging areas while bombing military targets.

The enemy's strategy becomes clear: civilian airstrips are seized as staging areas and military bases are targeted with bombs. The US responds with Convair B-36 sorties, attempting counterattacks. But the invasion pushes deeper into the West, advancing toward Washington state and Oregon.

Atomic attacks devastate shipyards in Puget Sound, causing massive casualties and crippling naval infrastructure. The assault underscores the scale of the threat and the slipping grip on American territory. Panic begins to spread beyond the bar as the nation reels.

With the crisis unfolding, Potter and Sanford become romantically linked as they endure the chaos. He continues to broadcast, while she volunteers at a blood drive, turning personal risk into a public response. The other patrons prepare to support the country in any way they can.

The industrialist returns to his home only to be drawn into the battle for San Francisco. He is shot in his office as the city comes under attack, illustrating how civilians of all classes are pulled into the front lines. The nation's elites are not spared by the war.

The rancher heads toward safety as a nuclear missile aims at the Boulder Dam, threatening a tidal wave that could devastate downstream communities. The resulting flood overwhelms the rancher, his family, and others as they attempt to flee downstream. The disaster multiplies casualties across the landscape.

The US president delivers inflated claims of counterattacks in token broadcasts, trying to rally a frightened populace. Those messages ring hollow as the real threat continues to advance. Morale begins to fray even as the bar's patrons seek ways to act.

The invaders apply stealth tactics, using troops dressed in American uniforms to commit attacks. A paratrooper assault on the US Capitol kills a congressman, showing how the enemy sows chaos at the government’s heart. The line between friend and foe becomes eerily blurred.

New York suffers an atomic strike, plunging the city into catastrophe. Potter is killed at Sanford's apartment by enemy soldiers, a brutal personal blow that underscores the war's reach. Sanford's attempt to resist ends with the horror of an apparent violation.

Threatened with rape, Sanford leaps to her death from the building, a desperate act born of fear and despair. Her death marks a mournful end to a key relationship and demonstrates the war's indiscriminate cruelty. The country continues to reel from the losses.

Back in the bar, the five characters realize their shared experiences were an illusion induced by Ohman. He reassures them, and they resolve to take action to boost the nation's military preparedness. Potter and Sanford's romance is acknowledged as continuing in the new resolve.