Emma is a 27-year-old journalism student who investigates rising pollution levels in 2021. She discovers that governments around the world were secretly conducting experiments that polluted water supplies and the environment. These experiments led to widespread droughts and contamination. The governments prepared to evacuate half their populations to another habitable planet, but Emma was not among those selected to leave. Most of the Earth's surface dried up, forcing the remaining people like Emma to hunt animals and collect water to survive in the changed environment.