1938: Robert Oppenheimer meets and decides to marry the hard-drinking, much-divorced Kitty, although his friends and relatives dislike her.

1942: America is at war. Now in charge of the top-secret Manhattan Project, Oppenheimer's left-wing politics mean that he's constantly under surveillance by the FBI and others.

1943: Oppenheimer is appointed director of Los Alamos, but his past Communist associations alert the FBI. Meanwhile, his extramarital relationship with the neurotic Jean Tatlock comes to a tragic end.

Summer 1944: With the death of President Roosevelt, the future of the Manhattan Project seems doubtful. Oppenheimer finds himself more and more at loggerheads with Teller.

May 1945: The European war is over but the conflict with Japan rages on. Oppenheimer discusses the almost completed atomic bomb with the Secretary of War. However, his colleagues have misgivings.

1949: A few years after the war, Oppenheimer finds himself regarded as a security risk, and must face the HUAC committee.

December 1953: Oppenheimer's examination by the committee proves disastrous and his career with the AEC is finished, whilst that of his rival Teller flourishes.