Twenty years after the events of Kingdom Come, a man who survived the Kansas disaster is granted power by four members of the Quintessence, including Shazam, Ganthet, Zeus, Izaya Highfather, and dubbed Gog.

The other four members of the Quintessence are prepared to let things unfold, hoping to achieve their own goals but a shadowed figure who resembles the Phantom Stranger opposes Gog's actions.

Meanwhile, four young heroes – Kid Flash, Offspring, Nightstar, and Ibn al Xu'ffasch – try to stop Gog on their own and are eventually recruited to assist Rip Hunter's plan.

Artist and co-writer Alex Ross left the project, and writer Mark Waid revised the story into what was eventually published.

Ross later criticized several aspects of the story in a Wizard magazine special, including the decision to make the birth of Superman and Wonder Woman's child a major world event (Ross believed they would keep it secret to give their child a normal life) and the fact that several characters that he intended to have been killed in the first series were alive in The Kingdom, such as Zatara, Hawkman, and Kid Flash.