- While most of the landscape is destroyed by nuclear warheads, Strand thrives in one of the few inhabitable places left; Strand's search for survivors uncovers a stranger with an unexpected connection to his past.
- A man named Will lives in the radioactive wasteland following the nuclear bombs' detonation. He lives in a van under an overpass which he has crudely shielded against radiation. Wearing a has mask and makeshift protective gear, he fights the dead and scavenges to survive. One night, after hunting some food, he sits by a fire cooking it and weeping. A walker approaches. Two men on horses arrive and kill it, then take a photograph of it. An astonished Will asks them if they're the ones stripping the dead. When the men approach him he tries to run, but falls and hits his head, knocking himself unconscious.
The men take Will somewhere, where they give him a decontamination shower. They take him to an elevator but refuse to answer his questions. When they get to the top floor, Will breaks free and runs from the men. He grabs an antique sword on display in order to defend himself but is stopped by a man with a gun. It's Strand.
Strand and Howard give Will a spaghetti meal and quiz him about his experiences. He says that before the dead rose he was an aide for a Senator. He says that they had found a sheltered area to ride out the blast but that the community he was part of had kicked out for unspecified offenses. He has been living rough ever since. He tells Strand that there are unknown people, who he calls Stalkers, who have been taking things from the dead. Strand takes Will on a tour of the tower where he now lives, saying that he hasn't left since the bombs fell. The winds took the fallout away from the tower, which Strand and Howard have retrofitted with solar panels and rooftop gardens to provide for the people now living there. Strand concludes that Will doesn't share their philosophy and so decides to kick him out of the tower. As Strand's people prepare to eject him, Will produces a medallion and gives it to Strand. Strand asks where he got it from and offers to give Will a shot at staying at the tower if he takes him to the place.
Will, Strand, and several guards, head out on horseback. Will asks why Strand is so desperate to find this person. Strand offers up his philosophy: the past doesn't matter, people should just try and move forward, and the best way to "win" is to shove one's success in the faces of those who didn't believe. A rainstorm comes up and Will tells them they need to seek shelter. The rush to the overpass which Will had been living under. As Strand inspects the bodies of dead walkers, Will says that he thinks that Strand wants to make amends with the person he's searching for, but that she won't be able to forgive him. Strand realizes that he never told Will that he was searching for a woman, and tells his men that they've been lured to this place. He begins questioning Will about where Alicia is, but just then a bunch of Stalkers show up and begin attacking them. Will is shot in the leg and he and Strand seek refuge in his van. Strand's guards exchange fire with the Stalkers but the sound brings walkers who kill the guards. The Stalkers retreat. Strand finds evidence in the van that Will did know Alicia and says he'll find her himself, abandoning Will to the walkers.
Strand travels to a nearby lighthouse, which Will had previously visited. Will arrives and holds Strand at gunpoint. He admits to knowing Alicia and again insists that Strand must want to see her to get her approval. He mocks Strand's supposed leadership at the tower and says that Alicia is a real leader. He tells Strand that he was kicked out of the bunker where Alicia is because he refused to follow an order, one which would have saved her people but cost her her life. When Will saw Strand he had hoped to bring him to Alicia and win his way back into her good graces. However, Will decides to leave Strand to his fate. When he goes to leave, he sees a bunch of walkers headed towards him and freezes. Strand pulls him back to safety inside. Will says that he recognized the people as ones who had been living in the bunker. The two men realize that something must have gone horribly wrong.
Strand decides to fight his way out of the lighthouse. Will warns that its too dark and uses some old diesel to start up the lighthouse's beacon. Strand and Will fight their way through the walkers. Strand says that he didn't see Alicia among the dead. He finally admits that he is doing all this because he wants to save Alicia. He and Will go to the Franklin Hotel, the above ground portions of which have been rendered a wasteland. They enter the bunker and find it abandoned. Will explains that he, the Senator he worked for, and a few other aides, had been living in the bunker until Teddy's scouts found it. The others had been killed, but they missed Will who was doing maintenance in an isolated portion of the bunker. They find a tree that the cult had set up for a walker, and a strange mural. Alicia left a note for Will which says "Padre". Will explains that it was a vague hope for something better. Strand realizes that Will loves Alicia. Strand admits that he wanted to prove to himself that he didn't need her. Will suggests that they search for her together, and Strand suggests that maybe she'll find them. They remove the Fresnel lens from the lighthouse and install it atop Strand's tower, hoping Alicia will see it. Strand tells Will that Alicia is the closest thing he has to family and that she reminds him of the man he once might have been. He then tells Will that he almost died going outside the tower and that he had a feeling he might be ignored his instincts. Strand says that the beacon is not to draw Alicia to them, but to keep her and other away. He tells Will that the only way to lead is alone and that love and other attachments get in the way. When Will tells him that Alicia will find her way to him anyway, an enraged Strand throws him off the roof. As Strand and Howard watch, Strand says that the beacon will protect them by drawing a cordon of the dead to them.
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