During World War II, Coca-Cola becomes an essential morale booster for the troops and a worldwide symbol of the American way of life. As the Cold War turns frigid, former Pepsi lawyer, Richard Nixon, gives Pepsi a decade-plus jump on Coke behind the Iron Curtain. But when the Berlin Wall falls, Coca-Cola is there passing out "the taste of freedom." Back at home, Coca-Cola plays a significant role in the American Civil Rights movement and offers a Vietnam War-weary nation the ultimate commercial for world peace. Challenging, irreverent, serious, and funny by turns, "The Cola Conquest" explores the delicious paradox at the heart of Coke: How did an innocuous soft drink, more than 99% sweetened water, come to wield such enormous economic and marketing power and assume such significance in so many people's lives? What does it say to us about who we are and what we are becoming? "The Cola Conquest" tells the story of Coca-Cola, the "sublimated essence" of all that America stands for, and the century-long competition with its rival, Pepsi. Shot in the United States, Canada, Russia, England, France, Mexico, and China, "The Cola Conquest" takes us from Coca-Cola's invention by a morphine-addicted Civil War veteran to the 21st century and China, where Coke is trying to wipe out the 3,000 year-old tea drinking habit.