| Director | Manuel Carballo |
|---|---|
| Genre | horror film, zombie film |
| Runtime | 98 min |
| Country | Canada, Spain |
| Budget | $5 million |
| Box office | $596,804 |
In the 1980s, a zombie plague spreads worldwide and causes the deaths of an estimated 100 million people. An unprecedented amount of research goes into finding a cure, but the resulting medicine requires daily doses to be effective. If the infected miss even a single dose, they quickly and irrevocably degenerate to a feral zombie state. As the formula can only be extracted from dead feral zombies, there are constant rumors that the supplies will run out. Infected humans, called "the returned", are subject to discrimination and violence from uninfected humans.
Kate, a physician who cares for the returned and fundraises to support research to develop a synthetic medicine, has been stocking up on black market doses of the treatment, fearful that it will run out soon. Her husband Alex, a music teacher, became infected when he attempted to assist a man who he thought was having a seizure. Alex comes out as returned to his best friend Jacob, who readily accepts him. When protestors become violent, and the government begins to set up quarantine camps to try and quiet them all down as long as they possibly can, Jacob and his wife Amber invite Alex and Kate to stay with them outside the city. Alex narrowly avoids both an attempted murder and police searches.
When Kate's source turns up dead, and evidence points toward Amber, Kate instructs Alex to check on their supply of the treatment. Alex finds a single dose and a note from Jacob that apologizes for taking the rest, as Amber has become infected. With only one day left to live as a human, Alex becomes desperate to find a new source. Kate returns to the city and reveals her dilemma to the hospital chief, who gives her the hospital's entire stash. However, the parent of an infected child attempts to steal the container, and in the ensuing fight all the contents are destroyed.
Distraught, Kate returns empty-handed and comforts Alex, who has chained himself to the wall. Alex slowly experiences the symptoms of the change and demands that Kate shoot him in the head. Kate, who had a traumatic experience in her past, when her mother became infected, is reluctant to oblige him, but she kills him off-screen once he turns. As Kate returns to the city to settle her affairs, the hospital chief excitedly tells her that researchers have created a synthesized treatment. Kate falls to her knees in grief.
In the final scene, some months later, a pregnant Kate prepares to assassinate Jacob and Amber at a book tour.