It has been twenty years since the virus destroyed humankind, causing people to become monsters who hide in the shadows, feeding on others. Those who have survived are separated by massive forests that have grown between towns, sealing people off from one another.

Joel is an eighteen-year-old boy who carries a secret, a powerful secret, a dangerous secret. After spending his life plagued by distant screams for help, he decides to head west from his town in Ohio to find survivors. He isn't sure he will find anyone, but he knows he must try. The part of him that makes him different might just be exactly what the world needs to heal.