Build a movie plot around this: What percentage of the population is sterile? It doesn't say what percentage of the populous is sterile, or it is never revealed.
The film opens on a view of a desolate snow covered mountain scape with the words "Once upon a time in the recent future a country went wrong. The country was called The Republic of Gilead." A woman (Natasha Richardson), her husband, and their child (Blair Struble) are driving up the mountains in their car towards the border of the Republic of Gilead. They approach the border on foot as they get nearer, but are spotted by guards from the Republic before they can cross. Kate's husband is shot while trying to distract the guards so his family can escape, and she is captured and separated from her daughter.The scene cuts to a city street, where women (including Kate) are being unloaded from a back of a large truck and herded into a building. Other trucks are unloading as well, although some are full of men or black people (note: the term African American is not entirely appropriate in this context as this is not "America"). The people are organized by race, gender, and among white women, their fertility. As the women's fertility results are read aloud, one "negative" women protests and is forcefully carried away. The infertile women are forced into a large truck with the original label "livestock" crossed out and "116 female" written over top. As the truck pulls away presumably headed for the colonies, the women's arms can be seen waving for help through the slats. A group of blacks attempt to escape but are stopped and led away.The fertile women are met by Aunt Lydia, (Victoria Tennant) one of the "rulers" of the Handmaids, per say, and board a bus headed for the Red Center. The windows are painted over, but Kate can see women wearing face masks and gloves shoveling dirt and rocks (presumably contaminated) along the route through a scratch in the paint. The woman Kate sits next to, Moira (Elizabeth McGovern) asks her how long she was "in", but Kate replies she doesn't know. Kate and Moira briefly exchange reasons why they were imprisoned and we learn that Moria is lesbian, an offense which could mean being sent...