A week ago, the supernova Aeon detonated in the skies over Antarctica. Mass migrations of humanity and animal life began northward. Secondary bursts of ionizing radiation knocked out worldwide power grids. Global temperatures spiked. Oceans rose as seawater expanded and glaciers melted. Massive storms and acid rain scour the planet.

The southern continent is literally melting under the feet of Dr. Xin Rhou as she is trapped at the South Pole, and she is perhaps the only person in the world with a full accounting of the data recorded when Aeon exploded.

Thousands of miles away in the Amazon, Max Carver struggles to stay alive while attempting to stop his old friend and brother Ben Belloc escaping from the Colony. But the only thing Max really wants is to get north of the equator and find his pregnant wife Talisha as she is about to give birth.

Talisha, meanwhile, has joined millions of Aeon refugees on the roads of America. Most cars have been rendered inoperable by the supernova burst, and all communications and power grids are down. But for Tal, on the verge of giving birth in a suddenly very unforgiving world, all of this is even less important than the revelation she has just learned …