On an early May Sunday, there were no signs of trouble. Having gone out into nature, the hero of the novel experiences piercing radiation and remains alive. On his way home, he does not meet a single living person except his own brother and grandmother. There's a dead city all around. Escape from the city, the search for surviving people, settling into a new place, the problems of surviving in a new world in the first year after the disaster - all this is described in the first book of the trilogy.