Five years after the Clarke interstellar comet destroyed most of Earth and civilization,[b] the planet’s environment has become chaotic, as sudden electromagnetic storms can form, along with lingering radioactive fallout and earthquakes from the impact. The Garrity family survived since the disaster living in an underground bunker near the Thule Air Base in Greenland, with Allison now a leader, John a scout and engineer maintaining the community, and their now teenaged son, Nathan, who wants to be a scout. Earthquakes collapse the bunker, forcing an emergency evacuation. Most of the survivors are killed by a tsunami and the facility is destroyed. The Garritys and Dr. Amina escape on a lifeboat with a handful of survivors, barely making it to Liverpool.