The summer of 1954 spelled disaster for a majority of Wheatfield's 34,000 residents. Terror surfaced in this rural town of Fork County, Nebraska, and few of the residents survived. It was called "the summer of the digging." Among the dead was the town's minister, Alex Balloon. But his wife, Jane, and their unborn son, Sam, survived.

Wheatfield never regained its population, but a small pocket of survivors remain devout Christians, including Jane. But in secret, the others have committed themselves to the services of the Prince of Darkness, the Lord of the Flies, and ruler of all that is...