If technology raises us above the level of animals, what does it lift us closer towards? And if we took away the Internet, electricity, even "technology" like language, what would the human experience become?

Justin, a disaffected 14-year old whose antisocial tendencies leave him barely capable of interacting with his family, is about to find out. Unable to assert himself in the face of a domineering mother and a sister whom he resents for her social grace, he retreats into the confines of mindless, violent video games. Left in the care of his sister while his parents are vacationing, he is so plugged into his game that he barely notices when she leaves. But when a month-long, region-wide power out removes this safety net, Justin has to learn how to interact with an un-simulated environment for the first time in his life.

Guiding him is Maya, a young immigrant neighbor who doesn't speak English but has a limitless curiosity for the world around her. Both characters are dealing with their budding sexuality but the communication barrier complicates the relationship's boundaries. The characters' emotions and instincts feel even more raw when compared to Justin's previously sedated virtual life.

As a contrast to Maya's vitality, Justin's other neighbor is a frail, elderly widow who comes to him in a dream as a spiritual guide to his previously unexamined world. Giving Justin a tour of her late husband's factory - a plant that made parts for machines that made tools - she shares her observations on the irony of man's primal instinct to create tools that remove him from his animal nature. She gives Justin a hands-on lesson on animal nature by transforming into a younger version of herself and seducing him, waking Justin up with his first wet dream. Later, Justin discovers her corpse, and his horror prompts him to run away from his house and live on a water tower he has discovered earlier in the woods. In solitude, Justin ponders his own mortality and the importance of his now absent family.

Justin's sister has been waiting out the power failure at someone's beach home whom she met through the social networking website FriendFace. But when the crisis makes her realize she's surrounded by people she barely knows, she begins to panic and feels intense guilt about leaving Justin behind. Her shame, fears and hopes manifest as resentment towards Todd, the boy with whom she just lost her virginity, and affection for another mysterious boy named Jeremy who has embraced the simplicity of the power-less world. After Jeremy mysteriously disappears, Carrie leaves the house on her own to make the 100+ mile trek back to her hometown. Her feelings and emotions are conveyed through a series of letters she's writing to Justin that she admits she'll never let him see. These narrative, diary-like observations contrast sharply with Justin's journey, which is sparsely worded.

Meanwhile, when National Guard convoys wake Justin from his sanctuary on the water tower, Justin explores downtown to find everyone has been evacuated. The only person he finds in town is a crazed woman from the Historical Society who has appointed herself mayor, and she offers no help when he describes finding his dead neighbor. Nearly starving, he loots abandoned stores for supplies and breaks into the library to take a few books. Well stocked with food and immersed in a novel, Justin realizes that he is retreating from reality just like he used video games to escape the dull monotony of his suburban family existence. Confronting his horror at finding his deceased neighbor, he reconciles her death by burning her house to the ground.

In the denouement, Justin reunites with Carrie before the power returns on as mysteriously as it went out. Their parents come home and things return more or less to normal, but brother and sister have a renewed appreciation for each other and a world that, up until a month ago, they had never truly experienced.