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The Day After Tomorrow

Jack Hall, a paleoclimatologist for the NOAA, drills for ice-core samples in the Larsen Ice Shelf with his colleagues Frank and Jason. A large portion of the ice shelf splits away, but they manage to escape.

At a United Nations conference on global warming in New Delhi, Jack shares his theory that climate change could lead to a new ice age through the disruption of the North Atlantic Current. United States vice president Raymond Becker is dismissive of Jack's research, but Professor Terry Rapson, a Scottish oceanographer, befriends him over their shared concerns.

Tokyo is struck by a giant hailstorm, and astronauts from the International Space Station spot three gigantic superstorms above Canada, Europe, and Siberia. Rapson's team notice severe temperature drops from multiple buoys in the North Atlantic, providing evidence for Jack's theory and that a climate shift may already be occurring. Remnants of a hurricane spawn a destructive tornado outbreak over the L.A. Basin. Three helicopters sent to rescue the British royal family from Balmoral Castle crash in Scotland after they fly through the eye of the European superstorm.

Jack and Rapson's teams build a forecast model that predicts that the climate shift will occur in 6–8 weeks (later revised to 7–10 days). Rapson shares with Jack that siphoned air from the upper troposphere will flash freeze anything caught in the eye of a cyclone with temperatures below −150 degrees Fahrenheit (−101 degrees Celsius), which caused the royal family helicopter crashes by freezing the fuel on board.

In New York City, Jack's son Sam, along with his friends Brian and Laura, participate in an academic decathlon, where they befriend JD. The North American superstorm creates strong winds and rain that flood Manhattan. All transportation halts, stranding the city's population. While helping to rescue two French-speaking tourists, Laura cuts her leg. A massive storm surge inundates the city, forcing Sam's group to seek shelter at the New York Public Library. Sam contacts Jack and his mother Lucy, a pediatrician, through a working payphone. Jack warns Sam of the impending superstorm, urges him to stay inside and warm, promising to rescue him. Rapson and his team succumb to the European storm. Lucy remains in her hospital, caring for bedridden patients, where the authorities eventually rescue them.

Per Jack's suggestion, President Blake orders the populations of the southern states to be evacuated to Mexico, while instructing those in the northern areas to shelter-in-place. Jack, Jason, and Frank depart by snowshoe to NYC. While trekking across Pennsylvania, Frank falls through the skylight of a mall covered in snow, only stopped by his tether to Jack and Jason. When more of the skylight begins to crack, he sacrifices himself by cutting the tether. In the library, most survivors decide to move south on the frozen floodwater, despite Sam's warnings. In Mexico, Becker learns that Blake's motorcade perished in the superstorm and that he is now President.

Laura develops sepsis from her injury, leading Sam, Brian, and JD to scour an abandoned Russian cargo ship that drifted into the city before the water froze for medical supplies. After finding penicillin, they encounter a pack of escaped wolves from the Central Park Zoo. The boys fight the wolves and return to the library before the eye of the North American superstorm passes over and freezes Manhattan. Jack and Jason barely escape the eye by taking shelter in an abandoned restaurant.

Days later, the superstorms dissipate. Jack and Jason reach the library, finding Sam's group alive. Jack sends a radio message to US forces who arrive by helicopter. While being evacuated, other groups of survivors emerge. In his first address as president, Becker apologizes for his ignorance and shares the news of the New York survivors and further rescue missions being carried out. On the International Space Station, astronauts look down in awe at the ice sheets covering much of the Northern Hemisphere and remark that the air has never looked so clear.