Aurora Scott was living her best life, guiding troubled adolescent girls on wilderness adventures, and returning to her Arlington home and supportive husband, Peter, an NSA analyst. But all that Aurora holds dear is wrenched from her when an aggressive cancer takes Peter and, just months later, an electro-magnetic pulse attack plunges the United States into a prolonged blackout.

When even the cabin that Peter had prepared becomes unsafe, Aurora finds herself marooned in a hut deep in the George Washington National Forest, her survival skills stretched to their limit and her will to survive trickling away.