By Dawn’s Early Light is an
HBO Original Movie, aired in 1990 and set in 1991. It is based on the 1983 novel
Trinity's Child, written by
William Prochnau. The film is one of the last films to depict the events of a fictional
World War III before the collapse of the
Soviet Union and the end of the
Cold War.
In 1990,
James Earl Jones was nominated for an Emmy for
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Special and
Matte World Digital won for
Outstanding Achievement in Special Visual Effects.
Plot
As the
Soviet Union begins to undergo radical political change, a group of renegade Soviet military officers steal a nuclear missile and launch it towards the Soviet Union from
Turkey. The Soviet city of
Donetsk is destroyed by the stolen missile. When the missile hits, Soviet defense systems see that the weapon was launched from Turkey, and conclude that a
NATO attack is in progress.
