Six survivors and a campfire in a valley ringed by hills. Fell the forest and plant it back, raise cabins, fields, coops and barns, mine stone, and wall yourselves in before winter. Spring and summer grow the crops. Winter grows nothing and eats firewood. Build a market to sell what you grow for dollars, and keep pigs that will eat anything, the dead included.
You are not alone out here. The ruins of Harlow are full of the dead and worth clearing. Ridge Market trades, St. Agnes Mission asks and gives, and the Highway Kings take, from you and from them. Someone else is on the road too. Every night the dead rise, more of them each time, and every fifth night under a blood moon.
The dead will keep coming. So will the travellers. Keep building.
Start a new settlement from day one? Your last save is kept, so you can still load it later.