Five

Roseanne roams from place to place in search of any fellow human. A newspaper headline reports a scientist's warning that detonating a new type of atomic bomb could cause the extinction of humanity. The stark emptiness of the world strengthens her resolve to keep going despite the desolation.

Roseanne reaches her aunt's isolated hillside house and finds Michael already living there. She faints upon the sight, overwhelmed and slow to respond as she begins to recover. She later resists Michael's attempted sexual assault and reveals that she is married and pregnant.

Two survivors arrive in a car, drawn by the house's chimney smoke. Oliver P. Barnstaple, an elderly bank clerk, is in denial, insisting that he is simply on vacation. Charles, a thoughtful African American man, has been caring for Barnstaple after they survived being locked in a bank vault.

Barnstaple grows ill, and Michael suspects radiation poisoning, though Barnstaple later appears to recover. They go to the coast and drag a man named Eric out of the ocean. Eric is a mountaineer who had been stranded on Mount Everest and made a long journey to reach this coast.

Eric reveals the details of his long journey from Everest to the sea, explaining how he traveled across continents to reach the coast. He hints that some survivors might be immune to radiation, a notion that stirs both hope and suspicion among the group. This tale heightens the sense that danger may lie ahead even for those left alive.

Barnstaple dies peacefully on the beach after his illness. The group mourns his passing as they confront the harsh reality of their new world.

Charles helps Michael with his construction project while Roseanne brings food to Eric, and Michael cautions that Eric might be exaggerating his illness. Eric's presence quickly sows discord within the group.

Eric's racist attitudes become explicit, and he clashes with Charles, triggering a fight. Roseanne goes into labor during the confrontation, and Michael delivers their baby boy.

After the birth, Eric departs to himself and drives their jeep through the cultivated field, destroying crops. Michael orders him to leave, but Eric pulls a pistol and insists he will stay only when he's ready.

Eric tells Roseanne that he intends to go to the city of Oak Ridge to learn her husband's fate. Roseanne agrees to go with him, but he insists she keep the plan secret from Michael.

They steal supplies on the way, and a struggle leads to Eric stabbing Charles in the back, killing him. This act shatters any remaining sense of unity and ties Roseanne ever more tightly to Eric.

Arriving in Oak Ridge, Eric loots while Roseanne searches her husband's office and later a hospital waiting room. She discovers his remains, realizing the fate of her family. Eric refuses to let her return to Michael, and a struggle reveals his advanced radiation poisoning.

Roseanne begins the long walk back to the hillside house, and tragically, her baby dies along the way. Michael finds her and they bury the child together. They return to the house, and Michael resumes tending the soil as Roseanne joins him, choosing to face the future together.