Beginning in the frenzied final months of World War II, rocketing back and forth between Washington and Tokyo, Alamogordo and Tinian, Hiroshima careens along the rapidly escalating course of the war. Reaching behind the headlines, this story examines at close range the enormous pressures facing the newly installed President Truman (Kenneth Welsh) and his chiefs of staff as they wrestle with the unprecedented moral question--whether or not to drop the bomb. In Japan, where an entire culture revolves around principles of self-sacrifice and unquestioning allegiance, Hirohito and his proud Samurai generals face the moral dilemma of whether to surrender or fight on to the bitter end.

The miniseries is conceived to flow seamlessly between documentary/newsreel footage and dramatizations of actual events as they transpired. Punctuated by real interviews of witnesses recounting their personal experiences of the war, Hiroshima creates a rich and moving dramatic tapestry.