Harvest is set in Norway in the immediate future. Political upheaval in the Third World has led to a complete break-down in the export of raw materials, causing an economic crisis in the industrialised Western countries.

In Norway thousands of workers are put out of work, and food supplies dwindle The government does not officially recognise the crisis, but fears soon spread among the population. Clashes with the police on city streets occur every day as demonstrators urge reforms on the government.

Thomas and Vera lose their jobs and find it difficult to make ends meet. The only solution they can see for themselves is to move out of the city and rent a disused farm. But they find that life on the farm is not easy. They face difficulties in attempting to harvest crops, as well as hostility from the locals. A considerable part of their first crop is destroyed by pollution, when a poisonous black rain sweeps across their fields.

As troubles in the cities worsen, the government takes over the distribution of all food supplies, troops arrive to requisition whatever food they can find. In the wake of the soldiers coming to the city, people who are spreading through the countryside, looking for food, desperate, and prepared to kill for it...