Amidst the gently rolling hills and endless cornfields of rural Iowa, a religious order known as the Community has existed separate from the outside world since the 1850s. To outsiders, it is a peaceful paradise where faith in God, hard work, family, and total obedience to the Community are expected.

Eben Wittmer is almost sixteen, an age when men are expected to take baptism, marry, and make their lives in a place where nothing ever changes. His older brother, Josiah, wants nothing to do with the restrictive life he is expected to live and fights against their father, an Elder who thinks of nothing but his own power and prestige. By helping his brother find his way, Eben is slowly drawn into the darkness which lies just below the surface of their seemingly idyllic way of life. What he finds is more terrifying than anything he ever could have imagined.