When a comet strikes Earth and kicks up a cloud of toxic dust, hundreds of humans join the ranks of the living dead. But there's bad news for the survivors: The newly minted zombies are hell-bent on eradicating every last person from the planet. For the few human beings who remain, going head to head with the flesh-eating fiends is their only chance for long-term survival. Yet their battle will be dark and cold, with overwhelming odds.

Sheriff's deputy Rick Grimes awakens from a coma to find a post-apocalyptic world dominated by flesh-eating zombies. He sets out to find his family and encounters many other survivors along the way.