The film stars C. J. Thomason, Monica Keena, and Edward Furlong as a group of survivors taking shelter in a Texas farmhouse.

They meet and join with Elizabeth (Monica Keena) who tells them she saw explosions over other major cities in visual range.

Hunter organizes the survivors and instructs them to move all of their supplies into the cellar and attempt to seal it against the radioactive fallout which is coming.

Over the next few days, Jonathan retrieves the electronics he previously stored inside a metal safe—a radio and his MP3 player, which have survived the blast.

Jonathan focuses on fixing the short-wave radio, and the survivors hear news of destruction in Europe and elsewhere by nuclear bombs.

They are joined by Jonathan's friend Rob (Andre Royo) a few days later, who is accidentally shot while trying to gain entry to the basement.

Brad, watching his wife and baby dying, draws his gun and grabs Satchel, threatening to kill him unless Hunter saves Angie; he is subdued by Jonathan who knocks him out with a shovel, and then has his hands bound.

Over the next two days, Elizabeth, Jennifer and Jonathan, beginning to lose their hair, spend most of their time sleeping, weak from radiation poisoning.

The attack comes, and Hunter, realising they are vulnerable and trapped inside the basement, leads them outside after the initial wave is repelled.

Nearby is Rob's body, slumped against a tree, having evidently managed to bury Satchel but chosen not to return to the basement before dying of the radiation.

[3] Gary Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times wrote that "Even if this largely contained movie remains more low key than frantic, it features enough well-executed bursts of tension and strong emotional beats to hold interest.

[7] Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times gave the film a mostly negative review, writing that "it's surprising how few of these characters want to kill themselves—no matter how much we're rooting for them to do so".