Trained by the U.S. military to kill, "English" outsider David Hawkins came to the quiet town of Millersburg and embraced the principled nonviolence of the Amish. But Hawkins's fragile tranquility is shattered when a marauding ex-convict descends on Millersburg, murdering his only daughter. Then an investigative reporter is shot in the head, and Hawkins disappears. Sheriff
Bruce Robertson—bound by his oath "To Serve and Protect"—suspects that Hawkins has forsaken his Amish vows of pacifism in the name of vengeance.

Professor Michael Branden and Pastor Caleb Troyer, the sheriff's closest allies, begin to build a very different case—one whose leads insert them into the normally closed circle of an Amish clan and take the professor across state lines to find the truth. As the pressure mounts, and the covenant of their friendship is tested, will the trio begin speaking broken English?