A fierce storm threatens the San Francisco Bay Area...Two small-time criminals, pull off a daring bank robbery...With the shipment of an experimental chemical weapon a Naval official gambles with his career and the lives of civilians...a rail traffic controller shows up for work inebriated... The consequences of their actions results in a police manhunt, government cover-up, martial law and a tension-filled battle for survival in two California cities. The chemical, designed to reanimate dead and severely wounded soldiers on the battlefield, escapes into the air and water. Victims of the train wreck come under its influence and come back to life, but unlike most zombies they are not listless and docile. Instead they possess speed and strength that belies their physical condition and begin to fan out and commit a plethora of grisly killings. The storm carries the chemical eastward, and there are isolated news reports of more attacks, until the government puts its disinformation plan into effect. Both cities come under quarantine as soldiers fill in for decimated police forces. Meanwhile bank robbers Roy and Cash, find themselves trapped by this army of the undead, and with several residents of a housing project try and fend off the creatures until daylight, when they hope to make their escape. However, zombies aren't their only foe: also lurking in the shadows are police officers who have turned the manhunt into a personal grudge and dubbed themselves judge, jury and executioner.