When a magnitude 6.9 earthquake strikes San Francisco in 1989, the city is thrown into chaos. With houses toppling to the ground, entire neighborhoods going up in flames and the top deck of the Cypress Freeway collapsing onto commuters trapped in their cars, the minute-long earthquake caused catastrophic damage to the Bay Area, killing 67 people and causing billions of dollars' worth of damage. As rescue services struggled to manage the destruction, five characters at the heart of the disaster were forced to fight for their own survival.