The film opens with a man in a medical containment suit running through the forest, chased by a bloodied man who screams. The pursuer falls, and as the scene lingers, the bloodied man clutches his head before the back of his skull explodes.
Forty hours earlier, in the same woods, Brooke Marguerite Sundberg goes for a jog. She is joined by local deputy Max Michael Flores, and the two share a quiet moment that leads to an intimate encounter in the trees. Elsewhere, a small group of military personnel sets up a mobile missile launcher on a hill, tasked with shooting down an orbiting satellite. As the missile fires, the satellite is struck by a meteorite and explodes, and the meteorite continues on toward Earth.
Brooke returns home and reunites with her parents, while Max heads back to the sheriff’s office. There he learns from fellow deputy Davidson [Bernard Setaro Clark] that the meteorite has caused a brush fire, and that the military has advised avoiding the area due to possible chemical contamination. The fire department begins to dig fire breaks to contain the area. One firefighter discovers a piece of satellite wreckage with an odd green ooze attached and later falls ill.
That evening, Brooke’s friend Karen [Beth Pratt] and her boyfriend Chad [Brendan Nagle] are spending time together when Karen’s daughter becomes frightened by a bloodied man wandering the yard. Chad goes out to investigate and does not return, prompting Karen to search. The next morning, Davidson autopsies the body and determines Chad was killed and eaten by more than one person. He also notes Chad’s hypothalamus is growing at an exponential rate despite death, and he finds a bacterium in the corpse that he has never seen before, suggesting interplanetary contamination.
Brooke rides her bike back into town and is confronted by a horde of bloodied strangers that attack her family. They kill Brooke’s mom and brother, and she barely escapes. Her father also makes it to safety, running into town. On patrol, Max encounters the infected at a campsite, abandons his car, and hurries back to the sheriff’s office. He encounters a battered Davidson, who is attacked and bitten; in the chaos, Davidson bites Max on the leg and appears to infect him as well.
Brooke later stumbles upon the man in the hazmat-style suit from the opening sequence, and together they return to the armored vehicles. She uses a satellite phone to warn the military and then is forced to flee alone.
An infected Max drives another police cruiser out of town and crashes it on the roadside. Brooke finds the cruiser, climbs in, and listens as Max confesses his love and shows an engagement ring. The infected swarm the vehicle and tear at the windows. When the back windows finally give way, Brooke and Max climb out and begin firing as they sprint away, leaving their fate to the viewer’s imagination.
