Josh Malerman's novel "Bird Box" begins with Malorie inspecting her stomach. She and her sister Shannon find out that Malorie, in her early 20's, is pregnant. Alongside this discovery, a wave of news reports comes about strange occurrences of murder-suicides. As these incidents spread, the sisters cloister themselves in their apartment in the hope of surviving the end of the world. Soon, people identify that the way that creatures affect humans is through sight. With this discovery, people lock themselves in their houses and blindfold their eyes when they must go outside. 3 months after the outbreak, Shannon kills herself in the bathroom after accidentally seeing a creature. Distraught, the pregnant Malorie answers an old advertisement in the newspaper about a safe place. There, she meets Tom, Jules, Cheryl, Don, and Felix who live in the house. The housemates accept Malorie into their home.

Soon after, another, equally pregnant woman named Olympia arrives at the house and after her, a man named Gary knocks on the door. Since the house is full, the group debates whether to allow Gary into the home. After a vote in which Malorie broke the split, they allow Gary into the home. He tells the group of how a crazy man named Frank in his old house pulled the blinds down because he believed the creatures could not affect him. As time passes and the women near their ninth month, Gary begins to convince Don of Frank's logic. Slowly, a divide forms in the group between Don and Gary and the others.

Suspicious of Gary, Malorie sneaks into his room and finds Frank's notebook, the book in which he wrote of his beliefs. When Malorie brings this evidence to the group, the others vote Gary out of the house over Don's protestations. On a stormy night, the 2 women enter labor at the same time. Tom and the others scramble to help the women deliver their babies in the attic, the safest room in the house. While Malorie gives birth, she hears Don and the others fighting below. Terrified, she shouts for them, but they do not tell her what is going on below. Soon, she and Olympia hear screams from below then Gary enters the attic.

Malorie realizes that there never was a Frank and that Gary had been lying to them all from the beginning. Gary tells her that Don pulled down the blinds and opened the doors to let the creatures inside because Gary convinced him that the creatures only harm people who expect to be harmed. After a while, the screaming subsides and Gary opens the attic door to let a creature inside. Malorie, covering the eyes of her baby boy and Olympia's baby girl, closes her own eyes until the creature and Gary leave the attic. The telephone rings for the first time in Malorie's time in the house. She answers a man named Rick who tells her that Tom called him and that he has a shelter just down the river from Malorie's house. He tells Malorie she is welcome if ever she wishes to come and live with them.

After she buries the bodies of every single housemate, Malorie and the children spend 4 more years in the house alone. She trains the boy and girl everyday in order to improve their hearing. Soon, the two are able to hear and identify sounds from other streets. With their ability, Malorie hopes to be able to respond to Rick's offer and travel down the river in a rowboat. After 4 years of training the children, Malorie sets off in the rowboat with her boy and Olympia's girl. After encountering a deranged man, a pack of wolves, and a flock of warring birds, the 3 make it to the shelter where Rick welcomes them. Finally about to feel safe, Malorie sees that some of the inhabitants of the shelter are blinded. She cries and asks Rick not to blind her babies, but he responds that they do not blind themselves anymore. Reassured, Malorie introduces the boy as Tom and the girl as Olympia then the novel ends.