Britain is in the grip of a deadly flu virus, which is now spreading throughout the world. When people start dying in their millions, a handful of survivors are left struggling to stay alive as society crumbles around them. Abby Grant is a housewife and mother who begins the desperate search for her son. On her journey she meets a variety of people whom fate has spared. The new world could be a dangerous place, and their only hope is to stick together.

Abby and her new friends discover that supplies won't be shared equally in the new world. A gang of armed thugs have laid claim to all the shops in the area leaving them short of food and water. Greg receives an attractive offer which could give him a comfortable life, but taking it would mean turning his back on the others.

Abby stumbles across a community that could hold the key to everyone's future. The last surviving member of the government, Samantha Willis, has set up a community that still boasts light, hot water, food, and power. Abby and Samantha hit it off immediately, but Abby's illusions are shattered when she sees the lengths Samantha will go to in order to maintain control of her fledgling community. Meanwhile, Greg and Tom are out searching for supplies when they encounter a family who have successfully sheltered from the virus. When the daughter of the family reaches out to Tom and Greg, they are faced with a terrible dilemma, as any contact with them could kill the family.

Abby learns of a group of young boys living at a nearby mansion called Waterhouse. She leaves her new friends in order to find her son, Peter. When she arrives at Waterhouse she walks into the middle of a land dispute between an ex-army officer and an aggressive group of teenage boys. She must try and broker a truce in order to discover if Peter is at the house. Tom, Sarah, Al and Najid are drawn to the comfort and security that Samantha's community provides. Things quickly go wrong for Al as he is ejected from the community. Tom sees the chance to prove himself to Samantha, but will his criminal past catch up with him? Greg and Anya have an encounter with some unwelcome visitors that provides a vivid reminder of how vulnerable they are without the group.

When visionary spiritual leader John turns up mysteriously at the survivors' door with his ragged group of passionate disciples, some in the house are suspicious of his motives, in the penultimate episode of Adrian Hodges' post-apocalyptic drama series. Charming and eloquent, John is a preacher with a unique perspective on the new world, but the family's opinion of him is split. Is he as innocent as he seems, or does he have more sinister motives? A woman in John's group is pregnant, and Abby allows her to stay until the baby is born. Anya fears that she will be forced to reveal that she is a doctor if there are any problems with the birth. Worse than that, she picks up on some unusual remarks by John which make her concerned for the group's safety.