A family consisting of parents Amanda and Clay and their children Archie and Rose drive to a remote area on Long Island, where they have rented an expensive house for a vacation.

Amanda receives news of a blackout across the East Coast of the United States, but she remains suspicious of George and Ruth.

He encounters a distressed woman who can only speak Spanish; she discusses something about "electric", "telephone" and "deer" which he cannot comprehend and he abandons her.

Rose, Archie and Clay return to the house after hearing loud noises, which crack the glass doors.

Elsewhere in the world, people have died after the disruption to the electricity; there have been floods; states of emergency have been instituted; and the American president has gone to hiding in a bunker.

[2] It was a finalist for the 2020 National Book Award for Fiction, and was assessed by Emily Temple of Literary Hub to have been included on twenty year-end lists featuring the best novels of 2020.