The events of the novel describe the first months of the apocalypse. The novel begins with the arrival of Philip Blake, his daughter Penny, his older brother Brian, and their best friends Bobby Marsh and Nick Parsons in upper Wiltshire. The group was heading to Atlanta to find refugees and survive the coming apocalypse, but not far from Atlanta, the group finds the ceremonial county of Wiltshire and intends to make it more habitable in order to stay. The survivors begin to clear out new housing and build barricades...