It’s a lovely morning in New York and people are enjoying themselves in Central Park. Suddenly the
crowd starts behaving strangely: they repeat words, freeze still in the middle of the road,
or begin walking backwards. At that moment some people start screaming, and on a bench,
a woman watches how her friend mumbles the same phrase a few times before grabbing her
hairpin to self-delete right there. Downtown, a group of construction workers are taking a
break when suddenly a body falls next to them. At first the others think it was an accident,
but soon another body falls, and when they look up they discover all the workers on the upper
floors are coming out to self-delete too. One by one, they all fall to their deaths,
their faces always blank with no emotion whatsoever. Meanwhile science teacher Elliot
is telling his class about the time millions of bees disappeared all over the country. A student
says that there will always be events that science can’t explain and we will never fully understand,
which Elliot agrees with. The other students begin to enthusiastically discuss mysterious
events only to be interrupted when Elliot is called to an emergency staff meeting. On his
way to the main hall, Elliot glances into other classrooms and sees students getting shocked by
something on their phones. Once all the staff has arrived, the principal explains that the city is
in an emergency state: apparently some terrorists have released a weird gas in Central Park that
makes people end things for themselves. This has caused classes to be canceled in the whole city.
Then the teachers return to their classrooms and tell the students they can leave for the
day. Elliot leaves with his best friend and fellow teacher Julian, whose mother is hysterical on the
phone even though she is in Philadelphia and told Julian to bring his family over. Julian and his
wife Alma are also invited, and Julian admits to Julian that Alma has been distant lately. At home,
Elliot’s wife Alma is nervous because she keeps getting a call from someone named Joey,
who she doesn’t want to talk to. She ignores her phone and watches the news to learn about
all the people who keep dying in the area and how New York is being evacuated. Soon Elliot arrives
and together they do the packing to leave the city. The couple makes it to the train station,
where they find Julian with his daughter Jess. His wife got stuck in traffic in Princeton,
so she will take the next train. On the station’s TV, a reporter informs that autopsies revealed
the toxin is a natural compound. Julian makes a comment referencing the couple’s marriage
trouble and this angers Alma, who doesn’t want their intimate details to be exposed like that.
Meanwhile in Rittenhouse Park in Philadelphia, a cop is trying his best to keep a traffic jam
under control. As the wind blows through the park’s trees, most people suddenly freeze,
and the cop uses his gun to self-delete. Then the taxi driver gets out, picks up the gun,
and does the same thing. Next the gun is picked up by a woman, who also uses it to
end things. Back to Elliot’s group, they are on the train and Alma finally picks up Joey’s
call to tell him to stop calling her because they only shared a dessert and it didn’t mean
anything. At that moment Joey tells her that the event is also happening in Philadelphia,
and soon most people start getting calls from friends and relatives telling them other cities
like Boston were also hit. Eventually the train stops at Pennsylvania, and the workers inform
the passengers this is the last stop because all train services have been discontinued. They’ve
also lost all contact, so there’s nothing they can do to help. There is a small rural town nearby,
so the crowd ends up in a diner. A woman receives a video from the Philadelphia zoo, showing a man
walking into the lion cage and getting killed by the animals. On TV, reporters announce that the
government has taken back the idea of a terrorist attack. The event is happening in the Northeast
area and spreading through small towns. At that moment the power goes out and people panic,
so everyone rushes to escape in their cars. Elliot and Alma try asking for help, but everyone ignores
him. Thankfully an older couple who runs a plant nursery invites them to come with them, so Elliot
and Alma call Julian over. However Julian lost contact with his wife and wants to find her, so
he leaves Jess with Elliot and Alma and then goes away with a family that is heading to Princeton.
Moments later, the couple stops by their home to gather supplies, and the husband tells Eliot he
thinks it’s the plants who are spreading the chemicals killing people. Meanwhile Julian’s
group makes it to Princeton, only to discover this area has also been infected. There are lots
of bodies hanging from the trees by the road and the girl in the car starts panicking, so Julian
makes her look at him and solve a math problem to keep her distracted. As he talks, he notices a
hole in the car’s roof. Suddenly the car stops, and after a pause, it crashes against a tree.
Julian comes out of the car and uses some broken glass to self-delete. Back to Elliot’s group,
they’re driving away and hearing on the radio that the latest theory is water contamination. When
they get out of town and reach the countryside, they find the road blocked by a bunch of bodies,
so they start diving backward. However when they reach the intersection, they find cars coming from
the other roads too, including an army truck. All the drivers report that those roads also lead to
lots of bodies blocking the way, meaning they’re surrounded by the toxin in every direction. Elliot
tries calling Julian but he won’t answer, then he notices that Alma has lost calls from Joey, so
he asks her who he is but Alma answers “nobody”. Hearing people in other cars share that the event
always starts in parks, Elliot thinks the plant theory may be true after all. At that moment a
woman manages to get in contact with her daughter in Princeton, who says everyone in town is dead.
The call ends when the girl suddenly dies, and Elliot can hear the wind blowing into the girl’s
room. Then Elliot realizes that Julian is most likely dead and has to give the news to Jess,
comforting her through her breakdown. Afterward an army private and Elliot agree that since the
attacks are happening in highly populated areas, they need to get off the roads. The
crowd is divided into two groups and they start crossing the countryside to reach a small remote
town nearby that may be safe because it’s still in development. As they walk, Alma finally tells
Elliot about Joey: he was a coworker she had dinner with when she was supposed to be working
late. Nothing happened, but she felt guilty about lying and that’s why she’s been distant. Suddenly
the wind starts blowing and the larger group freezes. Then the soldier walks backwards and
uses his gun to self-delete. Elliot’s small group can hear how the gun keeps shooting over and over,
meaning the others including the nursery couple are using it to end things too. As the small group
starts to panic, Elliot yells at them to shut up and uses a scientific deduction method to analyze
the evidence he has so far and reach a conclusion. He thinks the toxin is indeed being spread by the
plants, but it’s only triggered by large groups of people, so they need to split into smaller groups.
Three smaller groups result from this and they all begin running in different directions. Elliot,
Alma, and Jess run away with two teenage boys, but no matter how fast they move, the wind soon
catches up to them. Their group stops running to protect their faces and the wind blows around
them, but luckily nothing happens. Elliot thinks this confirms the size of the group matters. After
lots of running, the group finally finds the small town and hides inside a house where everything is
fake because it’s for show. There’s a plant in a room and Elliot approaches it slowly, asking it to
be good to them before he realizes it’s a plastic plant and he’s an idiot. After taking a break,
they decide to leave before more people come to hide here and trigger the toxin. As they run up a
hill, they see two groups arrive and make a larger crowd, instantly causing them to freeze. Only one
man moves to start a commercial lawnmower, which kills him in seconds. Elliot’s group continues
to walk for hours and find a radio on a fence. An emergency broadcast informs that people should go
to the west borders to be picked up by the police. Eventually the group is too tired and hungry
to keep going, so when they find a boarded-up house they decide to stop there. As they walk,
Elliot makes up a story about a clerk he flirted with and it makes Alma feel better even if it’s
a lie. The group knocks on the house door but nobody comes out. They consider entering by force,
but at that moment they see people moving inside. Elliot asks nicely for help,
but when the owner turns them down, the teens get aggressive and use foul language as they shake
the boards on the windows. The owner gets annoyed and ends up shooting through a hole in the window,
instantly killing both teenage boys. Terrified, the trio starts running again. Meanwhile survivors
are shown in various buildings in the area taking different options: some of them wear masks while
others are gathering as many guns as possible. On TV, a reporter interviews a scientist,
who explains that the attacks are getting more intense by the hour and affecting smaller groups
of people. Moments later, Elliot’s group finds a house with no power or a used road, so they
think it’s abandoned. However when they get closer they meet Mrs. Jones, who chose many years ago to
remain out of contact with the whole world. She agrees to let them stay the night and share food,
but she doesn't want to know about the event and asks them not to discuss it. Mrs. Jones is a very
weird lady: one second she behaves sweetly, the next second she is smacking Jess’ hand for taking
the cookies she offered herself. Later in the evening, Elliot and Alma are talking in whispers
because Jess is sleeping. Mrs. Jones overhears them and accuses them of planning to kill her or
rob her. In the morning, Elliot goes looking for Mrs. Jones to tell her something and is shocked
to find a creepy doll on her bed instead. When he comes closer, Mrs. Jones appears behind him and
yells at him, calling him a thief and telling him to leave immediately. Then she goes to her garden,
where suddenly the wind starts blowing and makes Mrs. Jones walk backward. Elliot sees
this and immediately rushes to close all doors and windows, only for Mrs. Jones to
start breaking the glass in a rather painful way until she dies. As the wind begins coming inside,
Elliot runs through the house trying to find Alma and Jess. Somehow he can hear them,
but can't locate them. He thinks he hears them in the cellar, but when he goes in he is alone. Alma
and Jess are actually outside in an old stone spring house, and a speaking tube connects both
buildings. Elliott uses this tube to tell them that now the toxin seems to be set off by even
one person alone. After sharing a few nice words and memories, Elliot decides that he doesn't want
to die alone and goes outside. Alma and Jess soon come out too and everyone holds hands while the
wind blows around them. However nothing happens and the trio returns to the house, realizing that
the event has finally ended. Three months later, Alma and Elliot are happily living together while
raising Jess. Alma also discovers she’s pregnant and Elliot becomes delighted by this news. On TV,
a scientist explains that the event was probably a message sent by the planet to warn humanity that
they’re causing too much damage, so they should expect another attack soon. Meanwhile in a park
in France, people start freezing and screaming can be heard as the wind blows around them