When Corporal Russell Gary wakes up in a hotel room after a drinking binge, he finds himself the only living soul in town. Learning that a nuclear attack has devastated the east of the United States, he takes a car and attempts to return to civilisation. It soon becomes clear, however, that there was also a biological weapon deployed, and the deadly pneumonic plague has been released. A lucky handful of people - Corporal Gary among them - have resisted the plague. But are they lucky? As carriers, they still carry pose a significant danger to the surviving population. Can Gary be trusted to put the safety of millions ahead of his own personal salvation . . . ?