An attempt to genetically re-engineer the measles virus
to cure cancer becomes lethal, infecting 99% of the world's
population, turning those it does not kill into vampiric, albino,
cannibalistic mutants called Darkseekers, who are extremely vulnerable to
sunlight and prey on the few who are left unaffected.
Three years after the outbreak, in 2012, U.S. Army virologist LTC Robert
Neville lives an isolated life in a deserted Manhattan, unsure if any
other uninfected humans are left. Neville's daily routine includes
experimenting on infected rats to find a cure for the virus, searching for food
and supplies, and waiting each day for any survivors who might respond to his
continuous recorded radio broadcasts, which instruct them to meet him at midday
at the South Street Seaport. Flashbacks reveal his wife, Zoe, and
daughter, Marley, died in a helicopter accident during the chaotic evacuation
of Manhattan as the military was enforcing a quarantine of the
island. Neville himself stayed behind with other military personnel. Neville's
only companion is his German Shepherd Samantha (Sam) and to cope with
his loneliness, he regularly "talks" to some mannequins and
the characters on film recordings from video stores. At night, he barricades
himself with Sam inside his heavily fortified Washington Square Park home
to hide from the Darkseekers.
One day as Neville hunts a deer, Sam pursues it into a dark
building. Neville cautiously goes in after her and locates the deer's corpse
along with Sam, but discovers the building is infested with Darkseekers. Both
escape unharmed and the attacking Darkseekers are killed by the sunlight.
Neville finds a promising treatment derived from his own blood, so he sets
a snare trap and captures a female Darkseeker. A male Darkseeker
attempts to pursue them but is halted by the sunlight and returns to the
shadows. Back in his laboratory in the basement of his house, Neville treats
the female seemingly without success.
The next day, Neville notices "Fred", a mannequin
usually at the local video store, positioned outside Grand Central
Terminal and shoots him in confusion. However, Neville realizes he is
being watched by the Darkseekers from within nearby buildings. As he approaches
Fred's body, he is ensnared in a trap similar to the one he used to capture the
female and is rendered unconscious after hitting his head. By the time he wakes
up the sun is setting and he is attacked by infected dogs. Neville and Sam
eliminate them, but Sam is bitten during the fight. Neville injects her with a
strand of his serum, but when she shows signs of infection, Neville is forced
to strangle her to death as she begins to turn. Heartbroken and driven by rage,
Neville ventures out and deliberately attacks a group of Darkseekers the
following night, before he is rescued by a pair of immune humans, Anna and a
young boy named Ethan, who have traveled from Maryland after hearing
his broadcast.
They transport the injured Neville back to his home, where Anna
explains they survived the outbreak aboard a Red Cross evacuation
ship from São Paulo, and are making their way to a survivors' camp
in Bethel, Vermont. Neville argues no such survivors' camp exists. As he
continues working to cure the female Darkseeker, Neville theorizes by lowering
her body temperature with ice, he can increase the treatment's potency. The
next night, a group of Darkseekers, who tracked Anna and Neville the night
before, invade the house. Neville, Anna, and Ethan retreat into the basement
laboratory sealing themselves in with the female test subject. Discovering the
last treatment was successful, Neville assesses the situation as the Darkseeker
alpha male rams himself against a glass door to break in. Neville draws a vial
of blood from the woman he cured, and gives it to Anna, before shutting Ethan
and her inside a coal chute in the back of the lab. Neville then takes a
grenade and kills the Darkseekers at the cost of his own life, saving the cure.
The following day, Anna and Ethan arrive at the survivors' camp
in Bethel, where they are greeted by military officers and other survivors
before Anna hands them the cure. Anna narrates how Neville's efforts and
sacrifices to save humanity ultimately became legend.
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