In the near future, war, climate and political agendas have robbed America of its lush resources. Seeds rarely grow into vegetation, the water is mostly polluted, and people are obligated to work hard to earn their keep. Noah Kross (Nicolas Cage) is an agent of "the Humanity Bureau," a government agency that determines a person’s productivity. Kross’s reports are key factors in deciding who stays in America and who is deported to New Eden. Kross is in charge of managing the deportation of a former governor of Colorado who now lives in misery, who claims to know "the truth" before seeking to kill Kross and then being shot by him. Kross ends up discovering that New Eden is really an extermination camp where the excess unproductive population is liquidated and incinerated.