The last day closes a series of post -apocalyptic stories a second after and a year after. It has been more than two years since the attack by an electromagnetic pulse deprived the United States for electricity and brought darkness, hunger and dying. The community of the mountain town in North Carolina led by John Matherson begins to put previous technologies and renew the social order. The military forces remaining from the government army suppress all rebellions. John's former commander, General Bob Scales, is supposed to arrest his friend. Will John submit to the new autocratic regime? Or will there be a coup that the nascent nation tears at the seams?