Leslie Woodhead's film about the Iranian hostage crisis of November 1979. Militant Islamic students - angered by US support for the Shah of Iran - invaded the American Embassy in Tehran, taking 52 diplomats hostage. For 444 days, the world watched helplessly as the United States attempted to free the diplomats in the face of Ayatollah Khomeini's fervent anti-Americanism. Only after a botched rescue attempt, and President Carter's election defeat by Ronald Reagan, were the hostages finally freed. The documentary hears from both hostages and their captors.