 David Dunn s marriage is crumbling, and he s thinking of moving to New York. Then when he s coming home from a job interview, his train derails and he is the only survivor. More than that, he doesn t have a scratch on him. David is contacted by Elijah Price, who runs a comic book art gallery and suffers from a genetic condition that makes his bones very easy to break. Elijah has been a comic book fan all his life, and has developed a theory that they are what remains of an ancient system of storytelling, and the superheroes they are about are based on real people. Elijah believes David may be one of these people. He has hardly ever been injured or sick, and he has tremendous strength, plus an uncanny ability to tell if someone is about to or has done something bad. David doesn t know what to think about the theory, or Elijah himself. However, events soon conspire to convince him he may be a superhero after all.