The Gladney family are trying to navigate the usual rocky passages of family life when an industrial accident releases a black cloud of lethal gaseous fumes and forces the evacuation of the town With the news that their exposure to Nyrodene D, the rogue chemical, might prove fatal, Jack finds out that his wife has been secretly testing Dylar - an experimental drug designed to eliminate the fear of death Jack's life becomes enmeshed in plots, complications and sexual deceptions