Rick Grimes is a former police officer who has been in a coma for several months after being shot whilst on duty. When he wakes, he discovers that the world has been taken over by Zombies, and that he seems to be the only person still alive. Having returned home to discover his wife and son missing, he heads for Atlanta to search for his family. Narrowly escaping death at the hands of the Zombies on arrival in Atlanta, he is aided by another survivor Glenn who takes Rick to a camp outside the town. There Rick finds his wife Lori and son Carl. Along with his partner and best friend Shane, he founds a small group of survivors who struggle to fend off the zombie hordes, as well as competing with other survivor groups who are prepared to do whatever it takes to survive.

Episode 1: What Lies Ahead

Rick leads the group out of Atlanta. On the highway, they are stopped by a threat unlike anything they have seen before. The group searches for someone who has gone missing.
Rick radios Morgan, saying that the group is leaving Atlanta and headed for Fort Benning, in search of safety. They are down to three vehicles: the RV, the Cherokee, and Daryl riding his motorcycle. Shane offers to teach Andrea how to clean her gun, which was a gift from her father right before she and Amy left on a road trip.
Their path is blocked by a flood of abandoned cars. Daryl wants to scout ahead for a better route for the cars but then the RV breaks down, its radiator hose busted. The group has to hunker down until Dale fixes it. The group starts to check surrounding cars for anything they can use: spare car parts, clothes, and even water. Lori is reluctant to pick through what is essentially a graveyard.

Episode 2: Blood Letting

Desperate to find help for Carl, Rick heads for Hershel’s Farm. Meanwhile, the rest of the group continues to hunt for Sophia in the woods. Finally, Shane and Otis head into the nearby town to scavange supplies in order to save Carl’s life.
The episode begins with a flashback before the walker invasion, with Lori discussing her marriage with a fellow mom as they await their kids to get out of school. Lori admits that her relationship with Rick has been rocky lately. Shane arrives and tells Lori that Rick has been shot. And Lori has the unenviable task of telling Carl.
Back in the present, Rick is running with the injured Carl in his arms, desperately trying to make it to a farmhouse. The hunter, Otis, has informed Rick that there will be people there who can help. Hershel, owner of the farm, examines Carl. Rick panics because Lori doesn’t know what has happened to Carl. Meanwhile, Lori is concerned over the single gunshot they heard echoing in the forest.

Episode 3: Save the Last One

The Greene Family and the Grimes family wait for Otis and Shane to return with the medical supplies for Carl. Meanwhile, Shane and Otis find themselves trapped in a school with hungry walkers waiting to eat them. Finally, Daryl and Andrea continue the hunt for Sophia.

Episode 4: Cherokee Rose

The survivors have to deal with a huge walker that has fallen into one of the Greene Family’s wells. The search for Sophia continues with Daryl finding a sign. Glenn and Maggie go into the town for some supplies, but end up doing more than just scavanging for medicine.Rick and Hershel have a discussion over God’s role in the world and about how long Rick’s group can stay at Hershel’s farm. Finally, Lori asks Glenn to bring her a special item which could have grave effects on her family.

Episode 5: Chupacabra

Rick and Shane argue about whether the search for Sophia should end. Daryl gets hurt and has a hallucination involving someone from his past. Hershel warns Maggie to keep her distance from Rick’s group. And Glenn finds out why Hershel doesn’t want the group near the barn.

Episode 6: Secrets

Revelations begin to come out among the members of the group. Shane teaches Andrea how to fire a weapon but the desire to put the past behind him and focus on survival eats at him. Glenn wrestles with keeping his secret about the barn Walkers from the group. Lori confides in Dale about her pregnancy.

Episode 7: Pretty Much Dead Already

Glen tells everyone about the walkers in the barn which adds to the tension among the group. Shane is still arguing they should give up any hope of ever finding Sophia while others refuse to leave. With Carl now healthy, Herschel tells Rick that they are to leave by the end of the week. Dale takes action to make their stay safer but it leads to a confrontation with Shane. When Rick returns to the camp having helped Herschel rescue two walkers trapped in a bog, Shane goes berserk killing all of the walkers in the barn. They get a sad surprise however.

Episode 8: Nebraska

After the grisly massacre of all the walkers in the barn, Hershel is at his ends with Rick’s group. He demands of Rick that at least Shane and perhaps the rest of his group leave his land.
The group decides to bury a few of the walkers including Sophia and Maggie’s stepmother and burn the other bodies. Carol, meanwhile, remains miserable over Sophia’s unfortunate death. Shane accuses Rick to be just as delusional as Hershel, believing that Hershel knew of Sophia’s presence in the barn the entire time and hid her from the group. Dale tells Andrea to be careful about her relationship with Shane considering the kind of person Shane is and now wants him gone from the group. Dale later has a private conversation with Lori, revealing his thoughts about Shane and sharing his suspicions that Otis’s death was at the hands of Shane. He warns Lori that Shane may end up killing someone else.

Episode 9: Trigger Finger

After killing their two attackers, Rick (Andrew Lincoln), Hershel (Scott Wilson), and Glenn (Steven Yeun) prepare to leave, but a search party arrives in town looking for the slain Dave and Tony. The three remain holed up inside the bar until Rick gives away their location and tries to verbally negotiate with the men outside, stating that they killed Dave and Tony in self-defense. The group responds by firing at Rick’s group which initiates a standoff.
Back at the farm, the group notices that Lori is missing. Carol (Melissa McBride) finds Daryl (Norman Reedus) and learns that he was the one who let Lori go into town alone, Daryl refusing to be anyone’s ‘errand boy.’ She receives harsh words from Daryl who mocks her for losing all of her family and being alone and insults her for not minding her business. While Carol is beginning to cope with the loss of Sophia, Daryl is becoming increasingly more aloof.

Episode 10: Miles Out

A week has passed and the boy – Randall (Michael Zegen) – that Rick (Andrew Lincoln) rescued has since fully recovered. Rick and Shane have blindfolded Randall, duct taped stereo ear buds to his head connected to an MP3 device with the volume turned up, tied him up, and placed him into the trunk of their SUV, preparing to send him off. Several miles outside camp, Rick pulls over to address Shane’s situation. Rick reveals to Shane that he has bitterly known for a long time about his wife’s affair with Shane. Shane is apologetic and tells Rick that he had never been attracted to Lori before he was convinced Rick had died. When Rick questions Shane about Otis’s death, Shane says he sacrificed Otis to save Carl, at the same time suggesting that Rick would not have made the same decision in order to protect his family. Rick angrily responds that he would do anything to protect his wife, son, and unborn child.

Episode 11: Judge, Jury, Executioner

The situation about what to do with Randall is dividing the survivors. Daryl takes on the job of extracting information from Randall that reveals a new threat to the group. Dale goes about the group trying to convince the not to execute Randall.

Episode 12: Better Angels

The group learns that someone dangerous may be on the loose near the farm. As night falls, Rick, Shane, Daryl and Glenn comb the woods to handle the situation and keep the group safe.

Episode 13: Beside the Dying Fire

Rick and Carl make it out of the woods but find chaos on the farm, where the group has been split up and people are questioning Rick’s leadership abilities. Season 2 finale.