Based on the book by author Mark Bowden (Blackhawk Down, Killing Pablo), this series is looking back at the seminal event in the history of Western relations with Iran - the hostage crisis of 1979-81. Through the eyes of participants on both sides it is revealed first how the American Embassy and 66 diplomats and US citizens fell into the hands of an enraged mob of militant Islamic students who justified taking the hostages as retaliation for the admission of the Shah of Iran into the US, and demanded that he be returned to Iran for a trial. Then we learn the back-story for these events before following the dramatic events in Teheran as they unfolded both in the media circus that developed at the Embassy and behind the scenes within the Carter administration as it ran out of options to deal with the situation. The result was the attempted rescue mission, the story of which is told through the eyes of military special operators (who have rarely been willing to speak on camera) and supplemented by newly declassified information. The mission*s failure doomed Carter*s re-election chances. The hostages remained in captivity for 444 days in all and were finally released moments after Ronald Reagan took the oath of office, a coincidence Bowden*s book exhaustively investigates. And we learn where all the participants in those events are now and how those events are affecting Iran*s relations with the U.S. and with the West today.