The looming threat of a February 22, 2026 asteroid hangs over Woongcheon as martial law grips the country and unrest spreads. An outpouring of violence, a failed coup attempt, and a mass exodus of the wealthy to supposed safe zones have left the rest of the city grappling with dwindling supplies, a surge in despair, and a wave of scams promising salvation. In this shattered landscape, life tightens its grip on ordinary people who cling to hope in small, stubborn ways.
In the city of Woongcheon, four friends navigate the new reality with varying duties and loyalties. Jin Se-kyeong, a former teacher who now volunteers at city hall, watches the world she once knew grow more brittle as fear seeps into every corner. Ha Yun-sang, Yoo Ah-in, a scientist and Jin Se-kyeong’s fiancé who was stranded in the United States when the riots erupted, faces moral and personal challenges that test their relationship. Captain Kang In-a, Kim Yoon-hye, is an army captain who commands a compact, determined unit striving to keep order amid the chaos. Father Woo Sung-jae, Jeon Seong-woo, the assistant priest who steps up to lead his parish after the main priest vanishes, wrestles with duties of faith and leadership under pressure.
As Se-kyeong tends to her former students, she uncovers a grim truth: a human trafficking ring operated by escaped convicts kidnaps children and has already claimed the lives of several of her pupils. Kang In-a’s investigations reveal a broader network where the convicts collude with discharged soldiers to run gambling dens and brothels. These criminal enterprises are intertwined with a cult-like elitist faction that is gathering funds to buy time and escape to another country. The crisis of conscience deepens for Father Sung-jae when he learns that his superior, Father Baek, is part of this elitist group and has siphoned church funds to join them. Meanwhile, Ha Yun-sang contemplates a path that could align with the elite, given his genetic research that could shape humanity’s post-asteroid future, but he refuses to abandon Se-kyeong.
The four friends, along with their allies, discover that the elitist group has arranged two planes to evacuate a selected few. Se-kyeong, Yun-sang, and Sung-jae attempt to secure permission for the children to accompany them, but negotiations fail. One plane is unable to land due to protests on the emergency strip, while the other plane crashes mid-journey, killing everyone aboard and sealing a tragic setback for everyone left behind.
As the days draw nearer to the asteroid’s arrival, the town grapples with a spectrum of responses: some seek closure and small mercies, others sink into despair, while others still search for new meaning. Se-kyeong and Yun-sang choose to marry, though their bond is shadowed by the revelations they’ve uncovered about each other. Yun-sang initiates a memorial project to document Woongcheon and its people for possible future visitors. In-a, having been discharged from the army, sets out on her own path. Sung-jae leaves the priesthood but continues to care for the community in his own way. Tormented by the recurrence of child trafficking, Se-kyeong ultimately confronts the criminals at their gambling den, driven by a fierce resolve to stop them, even if it costs her personal safety.
The film traces a fragile arc from a city on the brink toward a painful reckoning with loss, loyalty, and the moral choices people must make when faced with annihilation. In its final, quiet moments, the characters bear the weight of what they could not change, while choosing to protect what remains of their humanity in a world that seems to be running out of time.
