Deep in the remote wilderness of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Nora is growing up within a militant apocalyptic religious cult. When her father, the group's charismatic leader, discovers his young daughter's gift for speaking in tongues and prophesying, he employs her to recruit people in their community. But as she grows older, Nora begins to question her faith, her father and her predesignated role, and must choose between committing herself fully, or being exiled into the foreign and frightening world beyond. Several years later, Nora is working as a hospice nurse in Chicago, struggling to navigate the baffling customs of the "normal" life she is now leading. When a letter arrives, warning her to "prepare herself," the lockbox of Nora's childhood is thrown open, sending her hurtling back into the shattering truth of what really happened on the day of her escape.