Threatened by the consequences and turmoil resulting from abandonment by his father and the subsequent and untimely death of his mother, Ezra Mignon is taken in by three aunts (modeled after the Bacchae, the female devotees of the Greek god Dionysus) in Ontario, Canada; and although he lands within the safety of a nurturing family, his dual nature begins to emerge at an early age and he takes refuge in fantasy, solitude, and strange rituals. Ezra struggles to find his place among his peers, but as he matures he is drawn further into his morally conflicted, disturbing, and often beautiful vision of the world.

When his family moves to a small French Canadian town Ezra's conflict with the moral system and religion he is surrounded by intensifies. A charismatic new friend soon leads him into a world of crime and dangerous taboos. The Christian God, as well as the father who abandoned him, haunts Ezra as he wrestles with the temptations of this dark new path. Is the dreamy image of his ghostly mother (always accompanied by a strange and mysterious goat) somehow leading him toward liberation, or are these specters the symptoms of an impending psychiatric breakdown?

Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall. Only an act of shameful impiety offers Ezra Mignon escape and eventual salvation. But can he betray, and even murder, the God that his community worships? And can he live with the divine blood on his hands?