They lied. All of them; the politicians, the news anchors, the economists all lied when they talked about the economic 'bump in the road'. They lied about global warming. They lied about everything. Rose Stanton realizes this as she scrambles to pick up the pieces of her life and tries to hold them together. The economy has disintegrated. The corporate world has collapsed, destroying industries and communities in its wake. Global warming is, in reality, a polar reversal that has resulted in a loss of all satellite communications and total disruption in the electrical grid. Overnight, Rose and her family are tossed into an early 1900's lifestyle, but she is determined to carry on.
A new widow, Rose watches her family rally to meet the challenges head-on. She opens her doors to others, including two of her son's friends, both soldiers returning from a war that could not be won without high-tech weapons. The war at home continues as lawlessness and despair run rampant. The family soon learns that even in these hard times, greed and opportunism could be the greatest threat. It is a lesson that could cost the Stanton family everything.