The cast and crew of Tiffany McMillan's cooking show are stranded on a farm when a solar flare hits. Preppers, led by Bubba and Carol, have been monitoring the solar activity. Several stories unfold in the hours before the flare, Holly the perfectionist vegan, Briana the prepper girl, a home-school co-op group, and Skylar, the set designer for the Tiffany's show, are suddenly left in the dark.

Holly is stranded in an urban area. The girls of the cooking show take longer for the reality to set in, until they talk to their neighbor Mr. Buchanan. Briana grabs her go-bag and leaves school, while Dan and his mom plan to get the home-school kids back to their families on horse back. The preppers move into survival mode. Skylar is stuck in the hotel and has to decide to stay or leave.

Holly has to travel over 300 miles to reach her sister's camp, while Briana wakes up in the woods, all alone. The cooking show crew discusses their bountiful food supply while people in the urban areas are breaking into stores to survive. Skylar makes a decision that will impact the lives of others. The preppers have moved to stage two of preparation and take it all in stride.

The girls venture out and soon discover the utter chaos and destruction all around them, with many people in need, who's fate they are forced to decide. Meanwhile Bubba goes to town to check on his gun store. Briana is found after surviving weeks on her own, while Holly fights off attackers in the woods. Skylar has embraced her new reality and is taking survival to a different level.

The numbers have grown to eighteen people on the farm who need to learn to work together to survive. The discussion of surviving vs. thriving begins. Briana starts going into the woods to escape the coarseness of the prepper camp. Molly has to come to terms with her new reality while everyone on the farm realizes they are all in this together and must become a team ... a family.

Nora moves to step up security after the Buchanans are attacked, while her sisters disagree with her tactics. Tiffany begins to show signs of a nervous breakdown. Holly has a unique encounter with a rural family on her journey home. The co-op meets to discuss survival options.