In 1914, Fritz Haber is Germany's greatest chemist. His Nobel prize-winning synthetic fertilizers have saved the world from mass starvation. But as World War I breaks out across Europe, slaughtering millions of young soldiers, the desperate German military asks Haber to invent an entirely new kind of weapon. Already having sacrificed his Jewish identity and his wife's career to achieve success, Haber's decision not only unleashes weapons of mass destruction for the first time in human history, but also threatens to destroy his family as well.