Tom works the night shift in the immunology department of a hospital. He finds himself a radio for company, but the 24-hours-per-day news reader slowly invades his thoughts. The news centers on the avian flu virus and its transmissibility to humans. Tom decides to isolate himself in the countryside, where he finds a gun and sets about hunting down crows, vultures and other birds that signal the return of spring. But it’s already too late: the virus has begun to do its deadly work. The film takes a critical look at how fear is transmitted by the news media, which intentionally amplify the most potentially alarming events, feeding anxiety within their audiences.