Alas, Babylon Summary

During the pinnacle of the US-Soviet Cold War, Air Force officer Mark Bragg forewarns his brother Randy about an impending nuclear catastrophe. He dispatches his wife Helen and their children Ben Franklin and Peyton, to the secluded locale of Fort Repose in Florida, where Randy resides. In anticipation of their arrival, Randy notifies his close ones, sets aside food supplies and arranges for Helen and the kids' arrival, while reports of intensifying superpower schisms flood the radio. Their fears materialize as nuclear missiles obliterate Florida's primary cities and Washington, leaving Fort Repose in an isolated state under a new government led by a minor Cabinet member as all communication channels are severed.

With Fort Repose cut-off, chaos reigns supreme. The town doctor, Dan Gunn, and a close friend of Randy's, becomes a victim of drug addicts who loot his clinic; the local police chief is murdered; and the bank president commits suicide. Despite these adversities, Randy and his crew, who converge at his River Road residence, manage to scrape through and restore some normalcy. They secure fresh water supplies, find food at the neighboring Henry farm and a nearby river, and a badly-equipped Dan continues his medical rounds. They are faced with a predicament when they realize that many townsfolk are victims of radiation exposure from contaminated jewelry brought back by an individual named Porky Logan. To tackle this, Randy and Dan take the initiative to collect and bury the hazardous jewelry along with Logan's body in a lead-encased coffin, even if it entails forcing the townspeople at gunpoint to help.

As time passes, Randy's leadership gains recognition. He is appointed as the authority responsible for enforcing martial law in such isolated regions due to his former Army Reserves service. He takes law enforcement into his own hands, posting laws and fighting off bandits who assault Dan, even on his wedding day to Lib, Randy's girlfriend. Despite losing a friend in this conflict, the community perseveres through a temporary shortage of fish and a salt crisis, which Randy resolves by locating a salt-rich pool mentioned in his ancestor's diary. By autumn, government planes start their surveillance, and an old military friend of Randy's, Paul Hart, arrives. He informs them of the country's ongoing efforts to reintroduce basic amenities and predicts that it might take centuries for the radiation-infected zones to be habitable again. He also breaks the news of Mark's death, freeing Helen to marry her new love, Dan. Despite Hart's offer to evacuate them from Fort Repose, they opt to stay, cherishing the community they've managed to rebuild.