The Thaw

The film opens with Dr. David Kruipen documenting a pandemic on Banks Island, describing 400 dead and 10,000 infected. The opening frames the looming crisis that will drive the researchers’ expedition.

In a flashback, David, his assistant Jane, and two researchers tranquilize a polar bear and discover the frozen remains of a woolly mammoth. They transport the polar bear to their research station, setting the stage for the unfolding mystery.

David calls his daughter Evelyn to invite her to visit the remote station, despite their strained relationship after her mother's death. Ling, Federico, and Atom are selected to join the team, and Evelyn decides to come.

Days after the recruitment, the team begins feeling the effects of a strange illness, signaling the outbreak to come. David tells helicopter pilot Bart not to bring Evelyn to the station.

Jane shoots and apparently kills David and another researcher, plunging the station into chaos. The students discover the polar bear's body, and Bart is bitten by a bug while touching it.

Evelyn is awakened by an approaching all-terrain vehicle and discovers Jane in the helicopter. Jane has destroyed the helicopter's control panel, eliminating any immediate chance of escape.

Ling wakes up with numerous bug bites, and Jane dies in Evelyn's arms. The group realizes Ling is sick, and Federico arranges a rescue helicopter to extract her.

Evelyn and Atom discover eggs in the mammoth's brain, leading them to suspect a pathogen infecting the group. They decide to quarantine everyone until a better-prepared rescue can arrive; Federico, infected, goes berserk and destroys the radio.

Bart's bite is infected, and Evelyn and Atom amputate his arm at the elbow. The group decides to destroy the facility and wait things out in the helicopter to survive the outbreak.

Ling is attacked by bugs that enter through the ventilation, and Bart chooses to stay behind with Ling after overdosing on morphine to sleep through the swarm.

Federico runs out, refusing to be checked for infection and turns on Evelyn and Atom. David shoots Federico from behind, insisting they destroy the station.

David records a video revealing that he infected himself and planned to unleash the bugs to teach humanity a lesson about global warming. Evelyn and Atom are briefly locked up by David but manage to escape. Atom grabs the helicopter's skid to force a landing, but is mortally injured when shaken off.

A rescue helicopter arrives but Evelyn shoots at it, causing it to crash into a gasoline-doused building. David and the helicopter crew die in the resulting fire, and Evelyn finds Atom dying in her arms.

The following day a rescue team arrives and finds the station destroyed, with Evelyn as the sole survivor. A radio report frames events as Evelyn's account, while a hunter's dog is drawn to a dead bird as bugs emerge from its body.

The closing scene shows the hunter driving his truck toward a large city, implying the outbreak's spread beyond the Arctic. It hints at a broader crisis to come unless containment measures are found.