Wildfires are part of life in Australia, but in the summer of 2019 the country is drier and hotter than ever. In what becomes known as the Black Summer, 24 million hectares burn. Firefighters David and Matt take on a new species of fire, 19-year-old India battles to save her home, and the Royal Australian Navy carry out an unprecedented evacuation.

Fuelled by unusually hot water in the Gulf, a monster hurricane batters Florida. Storm chasers Max and Aaron document the incredible coastal storm surge, but as Hurricane Helene tears inland, it collides with the peaks of North Carolina, causing a one-in-a-thousand-year weather event impacting the Blue Ridge Mountains' communities forever.

A heat dome, a powerful weather phenomenon, creates perfect conditions for wildfires as firefighters struggle to cope. In north-east Portugal Sophie drives through intense flames to save her family from a devastating wildfire. Rui, a Portuguese firefighter breaks protocol to cross the border to save a Spanish village in danger of being engulfed.