Prologue
Hal Jordan and John Stewart are having lunch together in their town of Evergreen, Nevada, with their friend Jo Mullein, a former cop who recently returned after being divorced in Coast City, though she still kept the wedding ring. Suddenly, a giant green dome falls down, surrounding the entire town and killing a biker who crashes into it. The three try to help him and alert the other bikers, but they can't exit the force field and the other bikers strangely turn and ride away like they didn't see their friend killed. Jo looks to the top of the dome, where a giant Green Lantern is floating, with a giant alien is floating in the center. The alien identifies himself as Abin Sur, stating that he exists at the green level of light, and orders the townspeople to "be without fear".
Sheriff Guy Gardner and his deputies, Rita and Ron confront the alien. When Guy approaches Abin Sur, the alien summons green energy into his hand and tells the sheriff that judgement has commenced. Perceiving this as a threat, Guy and the deputies nearly fire on him, but Jo tells Guy not to escalate the situation. When Guy lowers his weapon, he is seemingly killed by Abin Sur, stating that Guy has been judged, causing the crowd to panic. The deputies fire on Abin Sur, who reflects their bullets, kills Rita and cuts off Ron's hand, with a stray bullet killing a bystander. Hal picks up Rita's gun and points it at Abin Sur, who calls him by name and tells that judgement is in progress. John stops Hal from shooting, as he'll just be killed too. Abin Sur flies back to the Green Lantern. After some time, John, Hal, and Jo meet up again, with John telling them that no one is coming to save them and they need to take Abin Sur out, with he thinks he found a way to do so, pulling out a gold ring.
The next morning, John reveals to Todd Rice, local coffee shop owner, that the gold ring he found is an earring from the biker who crashed into the dome, meaning it must have passed through the barrier. He later talks to Jo and Hal about this, further revealing that the ring is not actual gold, just electroplated tin. He takes a gold-colored Blue Devil figurine from Hal and pushes it through the barrier, showing that an object colored gold can pass through. John then throws his grandmother's actual gold ring through it, which actually creates a hole in the dome. Jo asks they could create an opening for someone to escape if they gathered enough gold, but John says that's not the lesson they need to be learning. Before he can explain, Abin Sur comes down and says that John Stewart has been judged, killing him as John looks at his friends with a warm smile, before he flies away. Todd, Jo, and Hal mourn John, with Hal saying that he was wrong to treat this as a puzzle, and goes home to paint Rita's gun and bullets gold.
Over the next three days, Jo, Hal, and Todd meet at Todd's diner, after seeing that everyone else in Evergreen is gone, likely killed by Abin Sur. The three make a plan to have Jo lure Abin Sur out and Hal will kill him with the golden bullets. Jo goes out into the street and calls out for Abin Sur, demanding answers. He appears, and she asked him why he killed everyone in town. Abin Sur is confused, stated that only the biker, Rita, and the bystander were killed, but he insists he has not ended the existence of any other. Jo realizes that John and Guy are still alive. Abin Sur goes on to explain that everyone missing now exists in "OA", the Omega-Alpha and are still being judged He tells Jo to be with fear, fear for the Weaponers of Qard. He attempts to fly away, but Jo reaches out to him to explain more. Her solid gold wedding ring causes her hand to pass onto him. She sees a vision of various aliens as the green light goes into her ring and into her. Abin Sur is shocked, declaring a "chaotic action" and calling Jo an Anomaly. The Green Lantern suddenly falls out of the sky and onto Evergreen.
After the Lantern falls, Jo disappears, Todd is buried under the rubble of his shop, and Hal, unhurt, goes to confront Abin Sur, demanding to know where Jo went. Abin Sur tells him that she had become an Anomaly and would be hunted. Enraged and grieved, Hal shoots Abin Sur with the gold-painted bullets repeatedly. Hal approached the alien, assuming he was dead, only to find that he was still alive. Abin Sur grabs the gun and melts it in Hal's hand, which corrupts Hal's hand with a black substance. As he melts away, Abin Sur tells Hal to be with fear, fear of the Black Hand and the Black Star.
Present Day
Hal is left with the black hand and is constantly seeing a vision of a ring of light with a strange voice telling him to be without fear. Terrified, he leaves Evergreen by walking the interstate and is stopped by a cop, who quickly assumes he's holding a weapon in his pocket and aims his weapon at him. Hal tries to explain, but the cop demands for him to take his hand out of his pocket. Hal relents and the Black Hand obliterates the cop. Later, Hal arrives a diner, where an emergency report about the crash in Evergreen comes on TV. Hal starts talking about what happened and one aggressive patron demands to know, accidentally pulling Hal's Black Hand out of his pocket, causing the Hand to kill him. Hal tries to control the power, saying it responded to danger, but a waitress shoots him, causing the Hand to kill everyone in the diner. Hal hopes that the gunshot would kill him, but the Hand instantly heals him, much to his despair. Suddenly, Jo, surround by the green light, enters and asks Hal what happened to him.
Jo has also been receiving visions and hearing a strange voice. She and Hal discuss the event of the past five day. When she asks about what happened to Rita's gun, it materializes out of the Hand. Hal tells her that the Hand wants to destroy the green light and he's been trying to ignore it, but his eyes turn black as he says it's telling him that he's right. Jo tries to talk Hal down, but he's not in control. The Hand fires darkness at her, trying to consume her light. Jo fights back using the light to create constructs that defend and retaliate against the darkness. Creating a fist construct, she punches Hal out of the diner and into the desert, flies up to him, and tells him to get himself under control. Hal starts hearing a new, darker voice telling him to become the Black Star. The Hand starts consuming his entire body, growing multiple red eyes across it's black form, and starts to overwhelm Jo.
Meanwhile, an armed security force has set up a perimeter around Evergreen and the Green Lantern, as their boss, Hector Hammond, announces that the Lantern belongs to him. His workers dig up Todd from the rubble and Hammond tells him to explain everything that happened or they will withhold medical treatment from him. Back in the desert, Hal, under control of the Black Hand, is still fighting Jo and accuses her that everything that happened is her fault, demands to know what happens to her. Jo explains that she instinctively flew away after the Green Lantern fell and she was drawn to him after receiving the Black Hand. The Black Hand continues to grow around Hal, who screams at her to take off her ring. Jo remembers her ex-wife telling her to do the same when she left, and Jo says to make her. The Black Hand tries to grab her with a massive arm of darkness, but Jo flies away, the hand pursuing her. Hammond's employees detect the two heading their way and prepare to shoot them down, but Hammond orders them to pull back, believing they are the key to the secrets of the Lantern. Jo grabs Hal from the darkness and drags him behind her as they fly into the center of the Green Lantern. The two find themselves floating in a black void, where they are met with John, glowing with yellow light, revealing himself to be the voice they've been hearing.
In Coast City, government agent Cameron Chase complains to her supervisor, Johnny Double, for removing her from any case dealing with Nevada or California because of the Evergreen case. When she accuses him of being paid off by Hammond, Johnny puts her on administrative leave. Back in the void, John explains everything he's found out to Jo and Hal. They are all in OA, where the spirits of Evergreen's townsfolk are in a state without fear, including Guy who is glowing red. Guy states there are four levels of light: Qard or Black, relating to chaotic action; Rao or Red, being restraint from action; Sur or Green, correct action; and finally Aur or Gold, complete understanding. John reveals that Abin Sur, which was just a title, was a judge of worlds, and considering a community to be a world in miniature, came to judge Evergreen. His task was to select initiates, or "Ain", into the light. Because Guy showed restraint from shooting Abin Sur, he was chosen as the Ain Rao of the Red Flame; because John sought understanding, he became the Ain Aur of the Gold Flame. When Hal asks why he was given the Black which he can't control, Guy tells him that he can't control what he can't understand. Jo is labeled "Tomar" or Anomaly, as she is controlling the Green Flame without understanding.
Jo asks why Abin Sur came to Earth in the first place, to which John replies that he doesn't know completely, as Abin Sur didn't say before he died, but he did show them what was coming. He further explains that Oans like Abin Sur believe Aur to be the highest level of light, but their enemies, the Weaponers / the Blackstars, believe the opposite: that Qard or the darkness is the highest level and they use it to take power without restraint. John shows them a vision of the Blackstar World that's coming: Mogo, a living planet, which Hal recognizes as the thing in his head. Jo, being done with all this, declares since she is the "Tomar" and doesn't understand the rules, she doesn't have to follow them. She orders the darkness out of Hal and the two decide to leave. Jo flies out of the Green Lantern with the unconscious Hal, as black liquid shoots out of the Lantern. Hammond orders his people to track her, but they are only able to plot her course to Coast City before losing her. Hammond then discovers that the Green Lantern has disappeared when he wasn't looking. He takes it as a win, as they still have all the data now and his rival, Ra's al Ghul, didn't get it before him. In Coast City, Chase talks over the phone about the Evergreen case with Simon Baz, fellow government agent, who tells her that she's too emotionally invested. Chase hears a knock on her door and goes to answer it, complaining that Sojourner Mullein is still screwing up her life after their divorce. To her shock, Jo is at the door, carrying Hal in her arms.
