In Part 1 of A Next Day, we witness the meeting of AJ, Karen, and Sam at a bar in southern California. We learn the awful fate of the US empire, and flash forward to a dystopian future where violence, pollution, racism, and misogyny have turned the United States of America into a disease-ridden wasteland. This unlikely trio begins a conversation at the bar that will be the beginning of their survival and the remaking of themselves, their community, and humanity as a whole.