When the Plague swept around the world, leaving the vast majority of the human population as undead flesh-crazed maniacs, Police Detective Scott Williams and his wife fled their home for the mountains of northwestern Arkansas, intending to hide and survive. They found that the living were as much a threat to their survival as the undead. Now, five years after the Event, Scott is the leader of a group of survivors constantly besieged by the ever-present undead, and stalked at every turn by the well-armed Road Gangs. Facing starvation as the ability to scavenge food dwindles, and enduring the endless struggle with his two life-threatening enemies, Scott questions, "Is simply surviving worth it?" That is, until he finds the Dell. Dell, Tennessee, a picturesque little village nestled in the hills bordering the Cumberland River Valley, offers the exhausted band of refugees a chance at something that was lost five years ago: hope. The ability to live life free of the constant fear of the undead, and to escape the Road Gangs and starvation. Their continued survival is tied to the Dell, and Scott is determined not to fail. Only then will he find out if they can go on.