In the year 2073, the world as we once knew it has vanished. A devastating plague, known as the Scarlet Plague, has wiped out civilization, leaving only a handful of survivors who now wander through a desolate and primitive landscape.
James Howard Smith, an elderly man who lived through the days before the catastrophe, recounts his story to his grandchildren, offering them a window into the past and the rise and fall of humanity. In a setting where nature has reclaimed its dominance, Smith struggles to impart the lessons of the past to a new generation that can barely comprehend the magnitude of what has been lost.