Although Elisabeth's medical training secured the family a spot on the pilgrimage, a secret involving their five-year-old daughter, Zoe, soon endangers their place in this utopia. Upon the Shannons' arrival, they are introduced to Cmdr. Nathaniel Taylor, the charismatic and heroic first pioneer and leader of the settlement. Taylor warns the travelers that while Terra Nova is a place of new opportunities and fresh beginnings, all is not as idyllic as it initially appears. Along with blue skies, towering waterfalls and lush vegetation, the surrounding terrain is teeming with danger - and not just of the man-eating dinosaur variety. There is also a splinter colony of renegades led by the battle-hardened Mira, who is vehemently opposed to Taylor and his leadership

When Elisabeth, Jim, Malcolm and Taylor investigate radio silence at a nearby scientific outpost, they discover an outbreak of a mysterious virus causing memory loss, paranoia and eventually death. The group must work together to find a cure before they lose their sanity and all of Terra Nova is infected.