Desperate Hours looks at the destructive force of volcanoes and examines the eruptions in Montserrat which devastated half a Caribbean Island, the 1973 eruption on the Icelandic island of Heimaey, the 2010 eruption Eyjafjallajökull which blocked air travel in Europe, the Merapi eruption in Indonesia, and Mount Nyiragongo in Congo, and the supervolcano in Yellowstone.

Desperate Hours looks at the destructive power of wind. It looks at the devastating power of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, the destructive Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar, the 1960 storm Hurricane Donna in Florida, Tornado Joplin in Missouri, Hurricane Sandy in New York.