What would you do if civilization came to a sudden halt? Nick is an electrical engineer in Detroit. When he hears that a solar flare is going to strike the Earth he goes home and prepares in all the wrong ways. The power goes out but Nick assumes that it will eventually come back. All of the other utilities go out and there is no effort by the government to provide drinking water. Over time the situation becomes graver and Nick has to learn how to keep himself and his family alive. News is very scarce and it becomes clear that society as he knew it is a thing of the past. Many of Nick's neighbors move away in search of a place where there still might be water and electricity. Each of Nick's friends reacts differently. One mysteriously disappears for several days. Another's church turns to mass suicide, and one friend seems like a good person to cooperate with until he takes one too many risks and is killed in a shootout. Life becomes harder as Nick runs out of food. He has to make compromises, and eventually he has to kill a man that has been demanding food and dominating the survivors.
Nick struggles with many personal and family issues. For example, he had a successful career, but it has become meaningless in the new world. He has secrets about his work that he is avoiding talking about. However, he redefines himself in the new world.
Nick's family has trouble adjusting to the new way of living. His wife, Ann, is a nervous wreck as she tries to keep her elderly parents alive. Unfortunately, because of the lack of modern medicine, her mother dies. Nick and Ann's children cope in different ways. Lily is very shy and hides in her room. The anxiety builds in her until a health scare takes her near death. On the other hand, Frank acts as if nothing has changed except that he doesn't need to go to school anymore. Nick tries and fails to comfort his family.
The story begins as Nick is at work when the solar flare is announced. He has to weigh his own preparations against keeping a product launch on-schedule. At home the arrival of the solar flare produces spectacular effects in the night sky and the power goes out just as expected.
