30 Days of Night (film) - Plot

Plot

Barrow, Alaska is preparing for its annual "30 Days of Night," a period during the winter when there is a month-long polar night. As the town gets ready, a stranger rows ashore from a large ship. Once in Barrow, he sabotages the town's communications and transport, destroying all means of communication with, and travel to, the outside world. Barrow's sheriff, Eben Oleson, investigates. Eben learns that his ex-wife-to-be, Stella Oleson, missed the last plane and must stay the 30 days. Although they try to avoid one another, when Eben confronts the stranger in the town diner, Stella helps to subdue him and take him to the station house.

At the jail, the stranger taunts the townsfolk, telling them that death is coming. Just then, unknown creatures attack the local telecommunications center and power supply, rendering the town dark and cut off from the outside world. Eben goes to the telecommunications center and finds the operator's head on a spike. Suspecting impending danger, Eben and Stella go through town, warning all the residents. A coven of feral vampires, led by Marlow, slaughters Eben's grandmother and most of the townspeople, while the remaining survivors congregate in the diner. As Eben and Stella recover ammunition and supplies, vampires attack but Beau Brower, the town snowplow driver, rescues them. Everyone takes shelter in a boarded-up house with a hidden attic. Marlow finds the stranger in the jail and snaps his neck.

Over the next week, Eben, his younger brother Jake, Stella, and seven other survivors stick it out in the attic. The vampires use Kirsten Toomey as bait and Eben leaves to help her but finds John Riis in a crawlspace. Marlow approaches the girl who is praying to God for help, but Marlow coldly replies No God and allows the vampires to torture Kirsten before Marlow's righthand man Arvin feasts on her. Eben attempts to help John. However, upon discovering that he is a vampire, Eben cuts off his head.

When a blizzard hits, Eben and the others use the whiteout to go to the general store. There, a young female vampire attacks, wounding Eben's friend Carter Davies but the others overpower the vampire and Jake cuts off her head. The whiteout ends during the struggle preventing the survivors from going back to the attic. Eben decides that everyone should go to the police station and provides a diversion by running to his grandmother's house for an ultraviolet lighting system. He makes it to the house, jump-starts the generator, and turns the light on the vampires, wounding Marlow's lover, Iris, so badly that Marlow is forced to kill her to put her out of her misery. Eben escapes the house, but the vampires follow him. Beau rescues him, killing many vampires with his tractor. He crashes into a hotel and ignites a box of flares, trying to kill himself before the vampires can. Unsuccessful, Beau survives the blast and his skull is crushed under Marlow's feet. This allows Eben to reach the station. There, Carter turns into a vampire. He tells the group of the recent deaths of his wife and children at the hands of a drunk driver. Carter decides he wants to die in order to join his family and not wanting to live forever. Eben agrees, and they go into his office where Eben cuts off Carter's head.

Two weeks later, Stella and Eben see Deputy Billy Kitka signaling them with a flashlight and bring him back to the station. When the vampires first attacked, Billy had killed his wife and daughters so that they wouldn't die painfully like the rest. He then tried to shoot himself but his gun jammed.

Eben, Stella and Billy find that the others have made for the utilidor, a power station that still has power. They begin to sneak towards it and spot a girl, Gail Robbins, being pursued by the vampire Zurial. Stella helps the girl while Eben and Billy distract Zurial. Stella and Gail manage to hide under an abandoned truck; Eben and Billy both make it to the utilidor, where they find the other survivors, but Arvin gets inside. Arvin attacks Billy, ripping into his neck, but as he turns to Eben, Billy knocks Arvin into the gears of the utilidor's pump, shredding him, also accidentally shredding his own hand. Also due to the wounds the vampire inflicted, Billy begins to turn into a vampire himself, forcing Eben to cut off his head.

As the month comes to an end, the sun is due to rise soon and the vampires prepare to burn the town to prevent any survivors from telling the world what happened. Realizing he cannot beat the vampires in his current state, Eben turns himself into a vampire via injection with Billy's infected blood. He confronts Marlow who accepts Eben as the "pack leader" of the humans(the One who fights). The two engage in a vicious battle for supremacy which ends with Eben crushing Marlow's skull with his fist. Leaderless and with the sun about to rise, the remaining vampires withdraw.

Eben and Stella watch the sunrise together. While Stella rests on Eben's shoulder, they share one last kiss. Stella holds Eben tightly in her arms as the sun brightens the sky, and Eben dies, his body burning to ashes, while Stella looks at the sky, coming to grips with what has happened.