Nuclear war story involving a USA/USSR spasm war where both sides empty their arsenals into each other with extensive use of dirty bombs to maximize casualties, resulting in the characters in a very deep bomb shelter being the sole survivors in the Northern Hemisphere. Originally serialized in the Saturday Evening Post.
In the world's upper hemisphere, only one small group has survived WW3: 14 people, sheltered deep within a limestone mountain in Connecticut with enough supplies & equipment to maintain their subsistence for upwards of two years. The group includes a forward-thinking millionaire & his family, a levelheaded Jewish scientist, a playboy, an aging African-American servant & his daughter, a gigolo & the glamorous woman who has been his mistress, a beautiful Chinese girl, a young meter reader, two children & a Japanese engineer. Aware of the outcome of the war that had raged briefly above them, the survivors seethe with hatred, fall into depression over their losses, rise to moments of superhuman bravery & lapse into behavior reflecting their human weaknesses.