America is rotting. Its institutions are crumbling. Citizens are conditioned to rely on a corrupt oligarchy for their every need, and the systems are designed to fail. When the power goes out in a college town in southern Indiana, Keith Rawlings soon realizes it's anything but normal. All electronics, including cars and cellphones, are dead. Panic overtakes society, and chaos ensues. He must get home, reunite the family, and create a plan to survive. The country has been thrown back into the eighteenth century without the knowledge or skills required to survive in the pre-industrial world. The residents of two country roads must band together to try to build a community and rebuild what they can of their lives. But they have more than nature to battle; they must contend with human nature as well. Meanwhile, something strange is happening with the university students in town. Without the constraints of law and society, they are forced to venture away from town in search of resources. The stage is set for a clash of two very different worldviews.