Trev has seen one of the first mushroom clouds of the global thermonuclear war that would come to be called the Retaliation. The world will never be the same, and neither will those who survived through it.
He and his family have escaped from imprisonment and are rushing home to rejoin family and friends in Aspen Hill. As they travel their worried thoughts turn to an uncertain future and what they can do to improve their chances. Back in Aspen Hill his cousin Lewis and their friends are continuing to recover from the raider siege. Their small town remains untouched by the effects of the Retaliation, for now, and their focus is on their own survival and future sustainability.
Meanwhile the invading Gold Bloc forces, hampered but not stopped by the Retaliation, continue their conquest of the struggling United States. Their goal is to take the country for themselves to replace their destroyed homes, and they're cutting a swath through a land weakened by everything that has happened since the Gulf burned. Their only opposition is the scattered remnants of the US Armed Forces, who are struggling to gather and raise some organized defense.
The enemy's progress is slow, but Trev and the others must face the possibility that eventually they'll reach Aspen Hill.