In 2017, U.S. Army officer Elias Walker tells his teenage sons Hesh and Logan the legend of how the Ghosts, an elite coalition of all U.S. Special Operations units, first appeared. Meanwhile, in space, the "Federation of the Americas" hijack the Orbital Defense Initiative (ODIN), an orbital superweapon that consists of a network of satellites that utilize kinetic bombardment. The Federation use it to destroy several cities in the southwestern United States. U.S. Air Force astronauts Baker and Mosley sacrifice themselves to self-destruct the space station and prevent ODIN from launching other payloads further inland. The Walker family narrowly escapes the destruction of San Diego, California.
