Dr. Adrian Helmsley, part of a worldwide geophysical team investigating the effect on the earth of radiation from unprecedented solar storms, learns that the earth's core is heating up. He warns U.S. President Thomas Wilson that the crust of the earth is becoming unstable and that without proper preparations for saving a fraction of the world's population, the entire race is doomed. Meanwhile, writer Jackson Curtis stumbles on the same information. While the world's leaders race to build "arks" to escape the impending cataclysm, Curtis struggles to find a way to save his family. Meanwhile, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes of unprecedented strength wreak havoc around the world.

In 18th-century Romania, after spending much of her life in a traveling circus, human-vampire hybrid Rayne escapes and plots to take down her father, Kagan, the evil vampire king. When she's discovered by three vampire hunters, she manages to convince them to spare her life and join her cause. But slaying a vampire as powerful as Kagan will be no easy task.

In the year 2012, the 3rd great war comes to an end. The war claims no victors, but both sides succeed in executing their chemical warfare campaigns. The result is over 3 billion deaths. Over ninety-eight percent of the male survivors are rendered sterile. Human reproduction is realized by means of cloning. The first strand of clones are harvested in December of 2012 and received with overwhelming success. It was not until nineteen years later that the first problems arose.

A naïve young girl desperate to fit in with her new boyfriend's tightly knit crew learns that membership may be deadly. Upon arriving at a party with her new boyfriend, Shawn, desperate-to-fit-in newcomer Debbie learns that the friends have formed a mysterious brotherhood nicknamed "The Murder Club." As Debbie accepts her invitation to join the mysterious club, a murderer who seems to take the group's name to heart begins killing off members one by one.

The generous John Jarndyce, struggling with his own past, and his two young wards Richard and Ada, are all caught up, like Lady Dedlock, in the infamous case of Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce, which will make one of them rich beyond imagination if it can ever be brought to a conclusion. As Tulkinghorn digs deeper into Lady Dedlock's past, he unearths a secret that will change their lives forever, and which is almost as astounding as the final outcome of the Jarndyce case.