Sixteen-year-old Hannah Sawyer has never used a cell phone and only vaguely remembers watching television. She's spent most of her life growing up in a religious community in rural Wyoming, enduring harsh work and severe punishments. As Hannah and her friends begin the rituals that will prepare them for adulthood, they begin to question the teachings of the elders and what it really means to follow God.

The elders believe that a group of practicing witches have recently built a commune near the Community and warn their followers not to come under their evil influence. After a girl in the Community fights off unwanted advances from an elder's son, she is put on trial and found guilty of rebellion and witchcraft. A single tree that has survived a mysterious fire becomes known as the Burning Tree when the first girl accused of witchcraft is put to death there.

When Hannah discovers a wounded man hiding in a cabin near the Community, she learns his terrible secret and agrees to keep him hidden. Through the help of this unlikely stranger, Hannah comes to a genuine faith in Jesus Christ and finally realizes she's trapped in a cult. She decides to take a chance on a man she barely knows in the hopes of finally escaping the Community before she becomes the next victim of the Burning Tree.