Amongst the chaos, a beleaguered Vice President under extreme duress concedes to pressure from an outspoken opposition Congress member and directs the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture (Edward Platt) to provide senior DOA representation at a county meeting of local crop farmers demanding answers in regards to the crop failures and the subsequent unexplained DOA crop destruction program.

Fully aware that a the crop destruction is a desperate attempt to a control a worsening GE 'crossover' situation (as a result of a program endorsed by the deceased President in return for industry election support), the two men agree to assign DOA food safety biologist Linda Merrill. With no prior knowledge of the mishap and further backed by intentional misinformation, it is intended she will appease those seeking answers and buy time for the Corporate organization responsible who claims that a solution is immanent.

On arrival, Linda befriends an environmental reporter (Jason Davis) who attempts to convince her that all is not as it seems. Although initially skeptical, following a heated county meeting involving farmers, ecologists, and a confrontation with an indignant Corporation CEO, (Gil Foster), she does investigate and uncovers evidence pointing to the release of a rogue 'crossover' Terminator gene (a genome intended to protect patented organisms by preventing reproduction). While attempting to obtain proof of a potential environmental disaster, she is involved in an incident which, unbeknown to her, exposes her to the contaminant. To conceal the worsening situation, the Vice President orders the entire affected area evacuated and placed under marshal law.

Meanwhile back in Washington, Gil Foster (Corporate CEO) concedes that the predicament is far more serious than first admitted but assures Platt (Sec. DOA) and the Vice President that the situation can be still be contained but only by the creation of a counteracting genetic agent but this process requires access to 'clean' or untainted organic matter stored in a National repository known as the 'Life Cell'. With the public outcry now extreme with calls for the administration to step aside having failed to act in the Nations best interest, the Vice President finds himself with no other option and so agrees.

Arriving back in Washington, Linda challenges Platt who confirms the seriousness of the situation. He then reveals the existence of the 'Life Cell', a secret sealed store of living cells of every known organism maintained in a perpetuating reproductive cycle (collected in the 1950's incase of total Nuclear annihilation) and reluctantly requests Linda oversees the access to the facility. Appreciating that exposing the last sterile and untainted organisms to the environment risks final contamination of all natural life remaining, she initially refuses but eventually concedes when Platt explains that no other alternatives remain.

Meanwhile Jason (Linda's reporter friend) forms an alliance with an active and well financed underground ecology group and continues his investigations. Eventually he uncovers a much darker side to the Corporate organization involved, one that even intended the widespread dissemination of the terminator genome not only to protect its own technology investments but also to gain sole ownership and domination over all competitor and natural biological processes. And also; to totally fulfill their aspirations, they must also contaminate all heterogeneity variants, including that material contained within the 'Life Cell'. When Jason attempts to expose their intentions, his life, Linda's, and the lives of the ecology team immediately become endangered.

Linda, now made aware of the insincerity of the Corporate, and also becoming ill herself due to the earlier exposure to the contaminant, agrees to be part of a deception to ensure that remaining uncontaminated contents of the 'Life Cell' is never allowed to fall into their hands. So with the help of Jason and his ecology group friends, they engineer a daring plan to rescue the 'Life Cell' containment chamber during the process of relocating it to the headquarters of the Corporate organization. But not only does the scheme go badly wrong with Linda's involvement partly exposed, she is also forced to confront the ghosts of her past associations with both the science and with the Corporate organization she now is attempting to bring down.

In conclusion, although not accomplished as intended, the group does succeed in its primary objective of ensuring that the at least a proportion of the Earth's natural organic matter will never be again be compromised by a moment of human greed or carelessness. But uncertainties remain; Linda's deteriorating health (intended as a synonym for the ailing planet) prompts the question; to what extent can the basic fabric of life (as having evolved to its current point of existence or established at the point of a Creation?) be tampered with before the most fundamental mechanisms of self healing fail forever.

As a result, an extremely complex character emerges. This is someone who has witnessed and been personally affected by the catastrophic day to day suffering and torture of Third World famine and someone who has subsequently devoted her life to a finding solution; that of developing a Genetically Engineered 'super food'. But instead, due to some event or incident initially left unexplained, she is condemned to be haunted daily by the dilemma of whether the long term benefits to the World and humanity outweigh the potential risks and dangers of the technology itself. It is eventually revealed that this was a decision once consigned to her, but one which she could not ultimately bring herself to make.

Although clearly a work of fiction, LIFE CELL was written in part to challenge audiences with a balanced series of realities: i.e. (a) the Worlds population will double to twelve billion within the next fifty years, (b) to just reduce by half the one billion people currently starving by 2015, the equal of mankind's entire food production of the last 10,000 years will be required, (c) genetic engineering concepts may be flawed putting at risk our ability to produce food at all, or worse, undermine the basic fundamentals that ensure the survivability of the human race - our ability to reproduce.

LIFE CELL is Linda's story as she is forced to again face these issues, as well as the consequences of her past actions, decisions, and indecisions. Although eventually she does perhaps achieve a certain degree of self redemption, the questions remaining, those pertaining to; 'technology benefits verses risk', what is an 'acceptable measured response' by those who disagree, and 'who's call is any of this to make anyway' (i.e. politicians, scientists, the corporate world, the starving Third World nations), these are, in part, intentionally left for the audience to ponder.