International contestants agree to test their sanity and will to survive in the remote Siberian wilderness for the chance to win a lot of money. Sixteen contestants from around the world are dropped off by helicopter into an unpopulated Siberian wilderness. With only the clothes on their backs, the contestants must try to survive this "last man/woman standing" endurance competition with no rules or help from producers or the outside world to win a big cash prize.

Leaders and followers emerge as the contestants' survival is constantly threatened as they are faced with frightening events and unexpected situations that go horribly awry.

A shocking announcement causes the dwindling number of contestants to lose one more. Emotions are heightened which increases hostility among the contestants. When Esther tricks Victoria into eating uncooked mushrooms, Victoria's suffers a hallucination in which she foresees everyone's passings. Accusations of theft, discovery of a bloody scene in the woods and the heated arguments centered on food rationing raise more questions in the minds of some contestants about continuing on.

The group's brief respite ends when someone sets the food shed on fire, destroying the stockpile. When the contestants receive a bow and arrows, Irene displays an unexpected gift for marksmanship and Johnny takes her hunting. Meanwhile, Natalie and Annie claim that they saw a tiger but the others suspect that it's a set-up by the producers.

Very personal relationships begin to evolve and take shape among the contestants, but the bonds are altered by a mysterious phenomenon which lights-up the night sky. Sam counsels Daniel in the affairs of the heart, Natalie displays mixed emotions to Anne-Marie, Carolina reveals big news to Johnny and Neeko goes on the attack seeking to control the contestants from spinning out of control.

In the wake of Carolina'a announcement, the group wonders what to do with her. Meanwhile, Irene is badly injured and Esther volunteers to disqualify herself to summon the helicopter, while Sabina tracks a strange girl through the forest.

When Johnny, Joyce, and Daniel return with news of the bloody scene left behind at the abandoned producers' basecamp, Esther is the object of an angry verbal attack by all the others who now fear for their lives alone in the wilderness. Sam finds and keeps Miljan's century-old Russian diary and reads aloud about a unhappy tribe of "Valleymen" feared by the original settlers and who still may be stalking the Siberian contestants; and a mysterious radio tower beacon appears in the distance, promising hope of salvation.

The group heading toward the beacon faces the loss of one of their own if they don't find shelter amidst the sudden snow in the middle of summer. Meanwhile, back at the settlement, Sabina leads the others to the devastated base camp to get clothing for protection against the sudden temperature drop. However, Irene's condition continues to worsen and the situation looks hopeless unless they can get the revealer box open.

With the sudden and mysterious disappearance of some contestants, and those remaining split into two groups to find help or rescue, natural and supernatural elements combine to heighten their fear, anger, and desperation. Joyce (Joyce Giraud), Johnny (Johnny Wactor), Sam (Sam Dobbins), and Daniel (Daniel David Sutton) continue a not-so-steady course toward a beacon that seems to have vanished. Meanwhile, freezing temperatures and near zero visibility, a result of the thick fog, put their lives in peril. Elsewhere, the other contestants left at the camp make a grisly and horrifying discovery.

Joyce, Daniel, Sam, and Johnny look for power at the research station and make a horrifying and grisly discovery. Meanwhile back at the cabins, one of the missing contestants returns with a story that shocks Sabina and Neeko and forces them to take defensive action, including a renewed search for the missing rifle. The distance and separation between the groups becomes more stark as the settlers face starvation and attack by unseen forces, while the group at the research station enjoys relative comfort and learns more about the mysterious history of the Siberian wilderness.

Neeko, Miljan, and Sabina are abducted by a hostile local tribe and fearing for their lives make a surprising discovery at natives' camp. Meanwhile, Joyce, Sam, Johnny, and Daniel are desperate to find a way to communicate with the world outside the research station and in the process find unsettling evidence of strange and deadly experiments that have been conducted there and may well be ongoing with them as the subjects.

Following the path shown to them by the Evenki natives, Miljan, Esther, Irene, Annie, Neeko, and Sabina come upon the research station where Joyce, Sam, Johnny, and Daniel have been holed up. But what might have been a happy reunion is complicated by the revelation that one of the contestants is stuck in hidden minefield surrounding the research station and the rescue party coming to save them might not be who they seem.