When global warming triggers the onset of a new Ice Age, tornadoes flatten Los Angeles, a tidal wave engulfs New York City and the entire Northern Hemisphere begins to freeze solid. As full-scale, massive evacuations to the south begin, a world-renowned climatologist (Quaid) who predicted the storm just a few days prior, must now risk his life to rescue his teenage son (Gyllenhaal) who is stranded in frozen, desolate Manhattan.