Amish bishop Small Henry Rupp has the burden on his heart that the people of his congregation in Holmes County, Ohio, have become too complacent with English attitudes and culture, and he is especially worried about the corrosive impact that tourism and commerce are having on the religious separatism that his congregation is supposed to maintain. His desire is to erradicate all modern influences in the lives of his people, and the solution that he is devising will surprise everyone, Amish and English alike. The problem is, one of his parishoners has now been murdered, and her husband is lying in the hospital in a coma, keeping devastating secrets from his bishop, apparently in unrepentant fashion.