When the first planes go down in Europe, America and Asia, authorities blame terrorists. As flights are grounded and world leaders try to figure out how this global assault has been coordinated, cars, ships, and factories stop running too...the common link is oil. Somehow a microbe, genetically engineered to destroy petroleum, has infected all supplies, casting the world into a new dark age. Dr. Gregory Gillette, an epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control, is a disease hunter specialising in microbes that attack human beings. When the Pentagon asks him to be part of the Rapid Response Team assembled to track and kill the devastating Delta-3 bacteria, he quickly discovers that his expertise is ignored, his presence meaningless. Returning home to Washington, Gillette watches helplessly as food becomes scarce, neighbour attacks neighbour, and the government collapses. With winter approaching, the capital faces anarchy and Gillette faces a choice; to stay with his family or to disobey orders and find the microbes' antidote.