Alexander Price's new fiancée, Valerie Reese, dies when an anomalous meteorite releases a one-kiloton explosion on an isolated Wisconsin town. Price's foster brother and best friend, Andrew Levy, finds him unconscious following the strike. They cope with the disaster by searching for her, but crippling disorientation forces Price home to recover while Andy joins conventional search-and-rescue efforts. Alex awakens to find that the event trapped him in ultra-slow-motion time. Amazed and terrified, he eventually learns the event gifted him the capability to manipulate and move through time and observe his influence on future events. Through this process, he discovers that the bolide has set a path of darkness that only grows over time. Although armed with extraordinary abilities, Price realizes that he cannot go back in time to save Val without finding a way to protect everyone else within the zone of destruction. However, time manipulation alone cannot defeat this enemy.