It began on a quiet Sunday in Gatlin, Nebraska. That was the day the children slaughtered all the grownups. Isaac, the boy preacher, told them that He Who Walks Behind the Rows was pleased, and three years later the children still follow Isaac and his evil teenage disciple, Malachai. When a young couple accidently drive into Gatlin, they begin to discover the town's terrible secrets and become part of the children's bloody mission.

After a tragic accident leaves them fatherless, four children return to their mother's mysterious family mansion hoping for an inheritance. But when they are imprisoned and abandoned by their evil grandmother, the children must survive a nightmare of brutal cruelty, forbidden passion, and a final shocking discovery that will shatter their innocence forever.