In Los Angeles, a city where people come to escape, shield secrets, and bury their pasts, we follow this mysterious outbreak as it threatens to disrupt what little stability high school guidance counselor Madison Clark and English teacher Travis Manawa have managed to assemble. The pressure of blending two families while dealing with resentful, escapist, and strung out children takes a back seat when society begins to break down. A forced evolution, and survival of the fittest takes hold, as our dysfunctional family finds they must either reinvent themselves or embrace their darker histories.

In the near future, planet Earth is permanently altered following the sudden—and tumultuous—arrival of seven unique alien races. In the boomtown of Defiance, the newly-formed civilization of humans and aliens must learn to co-exist peacefully.