A scoop satellite sent into space to collect micro-organisms for study crash lands in a desolate area of Arizona. Two army officers are sent to retrieve the satellite. But before they get there, people from a nearby town find the wreck, and try to investigate. When the officers reach the town, all they find is deathly silence. Miles away, in Mission Control, the transmission from the officers is monitered, and the last thing heard is a high pitched scream.
Further investigations reveal that all the people in the town have been killed.
Some just dropped dead on the streets, their blood clotted, and others driven hopelessly insane and finally committing suicide. The only survivors are a drunk old man and a young baby. It's a biological disaster that wiped out the entire town. Immediately, a team of experts is gathered in a top secret underground laboratory to investigate the deadly bacteria code-named 'The Andromeda Strain'. The team must race against time to learn more about the organism, which begins to mutate and take on even more dangerous forms.