The cataclysm everyone had been fearing finally took place. Not many humans were prepared to survive what occurred all around the planet: earthquakes, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions and every other imaginable disaster.

One such person, however, was Dennis Quant, a bright, intuitive book and magazine writer, a survivalist and martial artist living in the New Hampshire wilderness. Building a durable, sustainable underground survival home, he survives the upheaval and manages to rescue his 15-year-old niece, Aggy, as well. They are among the few humans still alive on the planet.

This is where they will spend the next five years of their tormented lives. Their biggest question is what awaits them when they finally return to the surface world.