In 1968, an American B-52 bomber, loaded with nuclear warheads, crashes amid the glaciers of Greenland. Not long after, the authorities announce that the emergency is over. Eighteen years later, the journalist Poul comes across the case by accident and sets off on a journey in search of the truth.

Following the tropes of the investigative journalism thriller with energy and intelligence, this docudrama also incorporates real television news footage to dazzling effect. The Idealist revisits the true case of a cover up of official secrets between Denmark and the U.S.A. during the Cold War.