Bill Gray, free-lance writer/journalist receives reports from a friend who lives in the mountainous region of California regarding unusual exodus of animals. He is also given some very old journals of an explorer who details the movement of an Indian tribe from their fertile valley based on the animal movement away, and the devastation he finds when he returns to the area. He enlists photographic help from his daughter. The series is a great success, and while he wants to be a skeptic of his own writings, he talks his daughter into a brief vacation out of state, which includes his friend Tray, and his ex-wife, Mel.
They travel out of state with Mel wanting him to sign off on selling most of the property he owns and which she lives on so she can invest it in a scheme her boyfriend has in the works. The plot thickens when Tray does some reconnaissance and discovers a hired killer stalking the motorhome they travel in. They surmiss the target is Bill, since if he's dead Mel gets the property by a 'transfer on death' deed. She recognizes the name of the 'hit man' and connects him to her boyfriend, and she calls and cancels everything—tells him it's over and to not set foot on her porch.
The group decides it would be best if they return home and help out if the predictions actually come to pass. After several slight tremors in the region it's thought that might be all the quaking to it. However, the newpaper/website publisher of his articles, wants more based on reactions he's gotten. He writes the first and then gets a call from a pastor friend who relates having seen an angel. The angel warns the quakes will come soon. Upon the advice of the publisher, he incorporates the pastor's warning in one of his articles.
The quakes come and its devastation.
Bill finds his only contribution to the aftermath of the earthquakes not enough for his self-worth, and rethinks what he's done with his life. Returning to his office, intending to close it, he gets a spiritual lift from people. On a return to the ranch where Mel lives, the ex-boyfriend shoots Bill, and advances toward Mel. She runs for her life, returns with a gun of her own.
The ending has Mel and Bill re-uniting in marriage