Along with the sweltering heat of the Mississippi Pine Barrens, the summer of 1963 brings intruders to Kali Oka Road: The Blood of the Redeemer churchers, members of a secretive religious sect, and Nadine Andrews, a single woman of marrying age more interested in her horses than starting a family. Both threaten the predictable sameness of this rural, tightly knit community. And both provide irresistible temptation for 13-year-old Bekkah Rich, who is willing to risk hell fire in her efforts to spy on the newcomers. But then her best friend's baby sister disappears, surrounding Bekkah in a web of kidnapping and murder. Suddenly, summertime antics become deadly serious, and those who were once a curiosity are now tainted with evil.