Its naturalistic future setting, modeled after traditional Western movie motifs, presents an atypical science fiction backdrop for the narrative.
After travelling to New York City on a business trip, Russell Shoemaker wakes to find all electronic technology dead and more than 99% of the human race missing.
In addition to new forms of government, Russell discovers that technology has failed due to a persistent electromagnetic pulse, a product of a collection of satellites that was activated almost simultaneously to the Fall.
Russell's journey eventually brings him to a nearly deserted San Francisco, and the headquarters of an organization known as the Parthia Group, who had developed a form of nano-technology, which identified humans with a particular genetic makeup.
First revealed through an alternate reality game (ARG), a UK-exclusive online viral series called "Emergency Subnet" for Channel 4 starred the character Maia Sturn (played by Nathalie Pownall) as a spin-off of "Afterworld."