The Andromeda Strain follows the drama that occurs when a satellite lands in a small town in Arizona and appears to kill everyone in the area, including the team sent out to recover it. Later, it is revealed that an extraterrestrial microorganism that causes severe blood clotting-and, in some cases, insanity-is the cause of the deaths. The main characters' search for a solution to the mutating microbe presents questions of responsibility, including the ethics of using nuclear weapons.