Max Erikson, a 45-year-old unemployed man living in St. Jonas, Michigan, has spent the past year drowning in depression and suicidal ideation. His marriage to Samantha collapsed three months ago when she moved out, leaving Max alone in the family home with his two younger children, Jake and Sophie. His oldest son, Josh, is a 19-year-old pre-med freshman at Michigan State University. Max self-medicates with bourbon while wrestling daily with thoughts of the Glock 19 in his closet. When his college friend Kenny dies of a heart attack at 45, the tragedy jars Max into action. Rather than surrendering to despair, he channels his fear into an obsessive survivalism campaign: he tills his backyard, plants a garden, stockpiles supplies, acquires precious metals, expands his gun collection, and builds a chicken coop despite objections from his HOA president.

Max's premonitions prove horrifyingly accurate. A catastrophic 9.2 magnitude earthquake strikes the New Madrid fault, the most powerful seismic event in North American history. The quake devastates infrastructure across the Midwest, collapsing buildings, rupturing gas lines, and killing thousands.

Before the region can recover, a second disaster strikes: a historic blizzard buries Southwest Michigan under feet of snow, and the already-damaged power grid fails completely in a cascade collapse. Rolling blackouts give way to total darkness. Temperatures plummet. The city water supply fails entirely. Neighbors freeze to death stranded on highways. Within hours, the thin veneer of civilization begins to unravel.