A holocaust has destroyed the world. Civilization lies in ruins. Nothing grows. The Man and his young son, the Boy, struggle across the devastated, post-apocalyptic landscape, pushing their belongings in a shopping cart, hoping to reach the coast. It is almost impossible to find any food. Life on the road is a deadly game of hide, seek, and devour with bloodthirsty bands of roving, starving, survivalist types, many of whom have fallen into cannibalism. The Man carries the curse of remembering the world as it once was, while for the Boy, the world has always been destroyed, any intimation that life was once different is foreign to his existence. Love--of the Man and Boy for each other--is the one testament to a humanity that remains, even in the face of total chaos.