Upon reaching his house, Rayford finds that nobody is there: that his wife and his son Raymie have both disappeared, leaving only their night clothes behind. Rayford and Hattie manage to acquire a helicopter ride out to the suburbs, where they both get a ride home to their own residences. Buck manages to get in touch with his boss Steve Plank in New York City, and is told to come there at all costs to put together the story of the disappearances.Ĭhaos reigns through the airport terminal as people, also witnesses to disappearances, are unable to get flights or phone calls or any rides out. As he turns the plane around and heads toward O'Hare Airport, he sees planes jamming the runways, some of them wrecked and on fire. He is told not to continue to Heathrow, but to return to Chicago. He also calls other pilots and air controllers, who confirm similar things have happened on their flights: people disappearing. Rayford has an inkling of what might have happened and gets Hattie to calm the other passengers down. Then suddenly Hattie reports to Rayford that she saw passengers disappearing, leaving nothing behind but clothes and other personal items. Meanwhile, Global Weekly journalist Buck Williams recalls having been in Israel for witnessing the miraculous supernatural protection given the country when Russia sent a massive military strike to destroy her. It is an evening flight from Chicago to Heathrow Airport in London, where Pan-Continental airline pilot Rayford Steele has thoughts about having dinner with his flight attendant Hattie Durham, with hopes of something more coming from it, while also thinking about his wife Irene being so involved as a 'born-again Christian' that she's always talking to Rayford about the Lord's second coming. Meanwhile, a young journalist, Cameron 'Buck' Williams follows an unknown, but charming Romanian politician named Nicolae Carpathia, who quickly attracts millions of followers, seemingly overnight.

Among them are pilot Rayford Steele, his daughter Chloe Steele, and Bruce Barnes, who begin to discover that what has really happened is that the Rapture of the Church had occurred.

Millions of people suddenly vanish and frantic 'survivors' of the disappearances begin their search for their friends and families as well as answers to what's happened.

Left behind series book 1