Five sisters in 19th century England must cope with the pressures to marry while protecting themselves from a growing population of zombies.
The five highly trained Bennett sisters in Georgian England must try to protect themselves from the growing zombie threat, find suitable husbands for themselves, battle marriage proposals and unlikely suitors, and save the country before it's too late.—Deborah Falconer
Early 19th century England is besieged by zombies; the Bennet sisters-Elizabeth, Jane, Kitty, Lydia, and Mary-have all been trained in the art of weaponry and martial arts in China at their father's behest so they can defend themselves from the zombies. Mrs. Bennet only wants to see her daughters married off to wealthy suitors. The Bennets attend a country dance also attended by Colonel Darcy and Caroline and Charles Bingley. There, the young and handsome Bingley falls for Jane. Charles Bingley has inherited £100,000 (£6.0 million today)-attracting Mrs. Bennet's attention as a desirable suitor for her daughter. When zombies attack the ball, the Bennet sisters fight them off, and Colonel Darcy, a friend of Bingley's and skilled zombie-killer, who was conversely trained in Japanese martial arts - with property that pays him £10,000 annually (£600,000 today) - becomes smitten with Elizabeth..
Early 19th century England is besieged by zombies (London is surrounded by a 100 ft wall and a large moat. To defend the uninfected, it became fashionable to learn the martial arts, Japanese for the wealthy and Chinese for the wise. In 1768, one zombie horde crossed the royal canal and massacred an entire village. This prompted King George to destroy all bridges over the moat, except one, The Hingam Bridge which is now the only way to cross the royal canal); the Bennet sisters-Elizabeth (Lily James), Jane (Bella Heathcote), Kitty (Suki Waterhouse), Lydia (Ellie Bamber), and Mary (Millie Brady)-have all been trained in the art of weaponry and martial arts in China at their father's behest so they can defend themselves. Mrs. Bennet (Charles Dance) only wants to see her daughters married off to wealthy suitors. The Bennets attend a country dance also attended by newcomers Colonel Darcy (Sam Riley), his good friend the amiable Charles Bingley (Douglas Booth) and Bingley's snobbish sister Caroline (Emma Greenwell).Colonel Darcy specializes in finding newly bitten human, about to turn into zombies, and killing them. His trick is to use house flies, who are good at detecting dead flesh.
There, the young and handsome Bingley falls for lovely, sweet nature Jane. Charles Bingley has inherited £100,000 (£6.7 million today and an income of GBP 5000 annually)-attracting Mrs. Bennet's (Sally Phillips) attention as a desirable suitor for her daughter. When zombies attack the ball, the Bennet sisters fight them off, and Colonel Darcy, a skilled zombie-killer, who was trained in Japanese martial arts - with property that pays him £10,000 annually (£670,000 today) - is attracted to Elizabeth, although his behavior is outwardly aloof. During the ball, Darcy is disgusted to overhear Mrs. Bennet's mercenary delight that Jane has attracted a rich man. Darcy is now attracted to Elizabeth.
On the way to the Bingleys' some days later, Jane is attacked by a zombie and catches a fever. Darcy orders her confined in fear that she may have been bitten, but her illness is not zombie-related (her musket had backfired and injured her hand) and she recovers. Darcy was there, and he and Elizabeth engage in intellectual banter on how Darcy expects his women to be both refined and trained. Elizabeth demonstrates that she is both but detests the high standards that Darcy has set for women, without being subject any such scrutiny himself.Elizabeth is also angry that Darcy keeps suspecting Jane to be infected with a zombie bite, without any adequate proof. She takes Jane home, even though she is recovering.
The Bennets are visited by a cousin, the overbearing Parson Collins (Matt Smith), who, as the only surviving male heir in the family, will inherit the Bennet home upon Mr. Bennet's death. Colins wants to marry Jane, but Mrs. Bennet says that she is already spoken for. Collins proposes to Elizabeth (after making it clear that she is a compromise) but states that she must give up her life as a warrior, something she refuses to do.
Elizabeth meets a charming soldier named George Wickham (Jack Huston) (Elizabeth notices a coldness between Darcy and Wickham. Wickham says that his father managed Darcy's estate. Darcy's father gave Wickham a piece of steady income, but when he died Darcy took the income away from him. Darcy though Wickham too low to be worthy of his consideration) and arranges to meet him at another ball.
She travels with him to a church that is filled with zombies who feed on pig brains instead of human brains, keeping their behavior relatively normal. Wickham believes that with these new "civilized" zombies, humans can co-exist. Elizabeth allows Wickham to present his plan to Lady Catherine De Bourgh (Lena Headey), the richest woman in the kingdom, a killer of zombies and a patron of Parson Collins. Unknown to Elizabeth, Lady Catherine is also an aunt to Darcy, who is at the mansion. Catherine and Darcy rubbish Wickham's plan to reason with the civilized Zombies and to form a peace treaty with them. Darcy throws Wickham out when he says that Darcy's father would have supported this venture.
Wickham informs Elizabeth that Darcy convinced the Bingleys to leave the county to keep Bingley away from Jane, then asks her to elope with him, but she refuses. When Darcy proposes to Elizabeth, having fallen in love with her despite his apparent coldness, she expresses outrage at his actions concerning Jane and fights him.Darcy later writes Elizabeth a letter to apologize. He regrets that he separated Jane and Bingley, fearing that Jane only wanted to marry Bingley for his wealth. He also exposes Wickham's true nature. He and Wickham were childhood friends, but Wickham may have murdered Darcy's father, squandered his inheritance, then tried to elicit additional money from Darcy's estate. When that failed, Wickham tried to elope with Darcy's young sister Georgiana (Morfydd Clark) for her fortune.
Elizabeth learns that Wickham has run off with Lydia and London has been overrun with zombies. Elizabeth and Jane cross the bridge into the In-Between. They are informed that the forces have failed to contain the zombies and the bridge will be blown by dawn the falling day to contain the zombie infestation inside London. Elizabeth runs into Darcy and Bingley fighting zombies and tells Darcy that Wickham has run off with Lydia.Darcy saves Lydia and learns that Wickham is using the "civilized" zombies to create a zombie army, which has overrun London based on Wickham's plan to rule the country. He stops him by giving the zombies human brains, which turns them savage.
While fighting, Darcy stabs Wickham's chest, revealing him to have been Undead all along, like the other supposedly tame zombies. Elizabeth saves Darcy from being killed by Wickham, who escapes. As the two ride across the bridge, the human army destroys it to keep the zombies from crossing over from London. Darcy is injured in the explosion and Elizabeth tearfully admits her love for him. After Darcy recovers, he proposes to Elizabeth again and this time she accepts. The two have a joint wedding with Bingley and Jane.In a mid-credits scene, Wickham leads a horde of zombies toward the wedding celebration with the Four Horsemen of the Zombie Apocalypse riding behind him.
