Jane, a 56 year old high school biology teacher, retires, divorces her lump of a husband, picks Lizette, a frisky hound mutt, out of the pound, and buys a 250 acre tract of remote mountain property in middle-east Tennessee. She moves into the primitive cabin and sets out to explore her new property and its boundaries. Deep in the woods, near her property line, two big dogs hear her and Lizette, and bark threateningly until a gun silences them. The brush is too thick to see anything, but in subsequent weeks, daily shooting noises bother Jane. She snoops to discover what is going on, and is captured by two bearded men, one of them a religious fanatic and militia terrorist, the other a mysterious facilitator. They have recruited and indoctrinated a small corps of alienated country men, and had them practice marksmanship in preparation for an insurrection. Jane finally manages to alert authorities, including the FBI. Jane and Lizette play a leading role in the confrontation.