Ted and Eliza Jane are forced to make hard choices to leave their home along with their sons and their families only to realize that they can't run from the unrest and lawlessness that result from a series of disasters, natural and unnatural alike. They realize they have to stand and fight so that their children can walk the streets in the New America as free men and women. The Thompson family is not as prepared as they would have liked, but then again are not as bad off as many uninformed Americans would be in a life or death situation. They have done what they could to prepare for the coming fight and to start rebuilding after the total collapse. The Thompson saga begins by telling how they took charge of their lives to carve a path into the new world around them and how they are ready to fight as a family to stop the evil that tries to take over in the New America.