Josie Pyre watches the children play out her window.
Jeb drives up the mountain with another officer. He gets a call that the police records have arrived — one for Dan Lafferty, one for Allen Lafferty. Allen had unpaid traffic citations, which he got when he was arrested after his wedding.
Jeb and the others arrive at Taba's empty car. There are small handprints all over it.
Pyre takes a bulletproof vest and goes into the forest with two other officers.
In the forest, he finds a little bag of berries. They hear the sound of a metal canister rattling and the cries of a man telling them to get off the land.
Quietly, Jeb calls for backup. The metal clanking and yelling continue. Jeb and the other officers come upon a clearing with a cabin and a few little sheds.
Jeb sends his other officers over the ridge to cover him.
Jeb approaches stealthily, hiding behind a tractor, and he hears the man yelling.
Jeb prays quietly to himself and then runs forward. There are more metal clanging sounds. A dog runs at Jeb. Jeb is about to shoot, but the dog's leash keeps him off Jeb.
Jeb goes around behind a shed, gun drawn, only to find Detective Taba. They laugh together, relieved.
The dog continues to bark. Jeb tells Taba he's got backup coming. Taba mentions that he twisted his ankle. Jeb radios for help getting Taba back.
The metal clanging and dog barking continue. Pyre tells Taba that Allen has a record for contempt of court. Taba chews some nicotine gum and sings, "Let's Stay Together."
Rebecca brings some cake to Josie's room, but Josie is nowhere to be found.
The backup arrives. The dog runs back into the house.
Taba notices a figure — a child in a dress — running through the forest. Jeb radios that they need eyes on the forest.
Some officers run into the forest, and Jeb follows suit. One of the other officers grabs the little girl.
The search is on for Josie at the party, but to no avail. Sister Doren tells Rebecca that they should call the brethren. Rebecca doesn't want to make it into a big thing. Rebecca and Sister Doren go for a walk around the block.
It's a standoff at the cabin. Jeb approaches the police car, where the little girl sits in the back.
There are sheets of stickers on the windshield. Jeb asks the girl if they are hers and if she found them at someone's campsite while picking elderberries.
She nods, tearful but silent. He says he has two daughters who love stickers, too, and he hands her the sheets. He tells her his name is Jeb. She tells him her name is Jenny Lafferty.
He asks her mom and dad's names. She tells him they are Sam and Sarah. He asks if they are in the cabin, and she says she doesn't know. She says her dad sent her (with her sister and mum) to pick food in the forest, but she lost them. She says she doesn't know who is in the fort now.
Jeb asks who uses it. Jenny says some men come and go. Jeb mentions that he knows Allen and Brenda, which Jenny recognizes as her aunt and uncle. Jeb asks if they ever come up here, and she says no. Jeb asks about their wedding, and Jenny confirms she was there.
Suddenly, a woman comes screaming and yelling at the car, saying she's a liar.
The woman sits, restrained, in the back of a police van. Jeb asks her if she is Jenny's mother, and he asks her to tell him who is in the cabin. She says that her sons follow Heavenly Father's commands, and He protects them.
Jeb says that he heard an army was being built up here. She says judgment will come, and Heavenly Feather will divide the wheat from the tares, the sinners from the saints. She asks if he follows all his covenants. Taba confirms that Jeb does, though he himself does not.
Taba asks how long he has until Judgment Day. The woman, Sarah, tells him to get baptized soon. Taba leaves them alone.
Jeb asks why Sarah called Jenny a liar. Sarah says the girl spoke of things she didn't know. Jeb explains that Jenny was only talking about Allen and Brenda's wedding and asks if Sarah can tell him anything more. Sarah says he'd have to ask Allen and Brenda.
Jeb says he's never met Brenda, but Jenny said Brenda fit right in with the Laffertys. Sarah disagrees. Jeb asks what happened in the temple.
In the temple, the men and women sit apart from each other. Brenda talks to Dianna and Matilda bout the old lady putting oil near her private parts. Sarah tells them to be quiet. Dianna stresses to Sarah that Brenda needs to know she isn't just getting a husband, but sisters, too.
Jeb says he's flabbergasted Brenda would break temple rules on her wedding day and understands why Sarah was upset. Sarah says Brenda was a pretender, drawn to converts (Dianna, Matilda) rather than real LDS women.
In the temple, the Bishop says that the women have been washed and anointed to become priestesses to their husbands. The names, signs, and penalties they receive today will be sacred and guarded by covenants and must always remain secret.
Sarah tells Jeb that Brenda was a tare. Jeb asks Sarah what happens to tares. Sarah says that sometimes the only way is blood atonement.
Brenda and the others perform their ritual.
Sarah explains that blood atonement is a cleansing of sins by spilling blood.
Jeb returns to Taba, saying that Sarah made it sound like all her sons are in the cabin, all under twelve. Taba says there are 3 – 4 pioneer types as well. The canister rattles again, and the voice yells about how they are the true saints.
Jeb notes that it's not an act — the men there genuinely believe they are God's chosen, willing to die for their beliefs and sacrifice their sons, too. Taba suggests going in right away, but Jeb thinks bloodshed was the goal. He reminds Taba what Allen said — look to the saints.
Jeb tells the story of the Haun's Mill Massacre in Missouri in 1838. The governor had put out an extermination order to kill all Mormons.
Militiamen on horseback gunned down saints working in the field. Some hid in the mill, but the militia shot them through the slats. Three children survive, but they are quickly extracted and executed.
Jeb explains that right now, to Sam, they are the militiamen. Jeb takes off his gun and heads towards the cabin, calling for Sam. Jeb introduces himself, asking if they can talk.
The voice from inside tells Jeb to let the girls go and turn the cops around, and he will forgive this. Jeb thanks him for sparing him. The man in the cabin tells him to get off his land.
Jeb invokes the slaughter at Haun's Mill, saying he knows how Sam feels, reminding him that Joseph Smith never fired back, and he surrendered to ensure the future of Mormons.
Sam yells that he will not go down like Joseph Smith. A gun barrel appears from a hole in the cabin wall. The cops break in, telling the young boy with the gun to get down.
A bearded, wild-eyed Sam rants about how he will not be taken. The cops get the boys out of the house. Taba, with his gun drawn, tells Sam to disarm. Sam puts down his gun and raises his arms.
A man breaks out and runs, with a cop in pursuit, as Sam is cuffed. Jeb asks who that is, and Sam says it's one of Heavenly Father's chosen. Sam has blood on his hands.
Jeb takes a moment to compose himself. He looks at Jenny in the car and thinks of his daughters.
Rebecca and Sister Doren find Josie. A bus driver explains that she had gotten on a bus ten blocks from here, and he's just happy he recognized her from church. Rebecca thanks the driver. The confused Josie wants to go home right away.
On the phone with Rebecca, Jeb learns of his mother's escape. Rebecca tells him that Sister Doren offered to look after Josie if Jeb could attend the baptism meeting. Jeb says he can.
At the station, a social worker asks Jenny about how she helped her father. Jenny says her job was to find food in the forest without being seen by bad people — people with uniforms.
Jenny asks them to let her father go. Jeb asks who the leader is, and she says Heavenly Father chose the leader.
In a flashback to Allen and Brenda's wedding, Ammon pulls Dan aside, angry that he is about to lose his home over unpaid taxes and license fees. Dan says they only need to obey God's laws. Sam and Jenny listen to the argument. Ammon quotes scripture and tells Dan to put his hands on the rail.
The social worker asks if Ammon really gave Dan lashings in front of everyone. Jenny confirms it.
Ron comes out and stops his father, taking the belt from him. Ammon punches Ron in the face. Ron doesn't hit his father but holds his hands. After a moment, Ron and Ammon walk off together.
The social worker asks Jenny if Ammon was the leader. Jenny says she saw Dan, Matilda, and their daughters praying the following morning and that Heavenly Father chose Dan.
Jeb asks Jenny if she saw Allen and Brenda that morning. Jenny says that Brenda was alone and in a black robe the last time she saw her.
Jeb, Rebecca, Annie, and Caroline meet with the Bishop for the baptism interview. The Bishop explains about baptism and sin. He asks if the girls have paid their full tithe to the church — 10% of their allowance and earnings. Both of them have.
Next, he asks if they believe that their church is the one true church, that Heavenly Father sent his only son, and that Joseph Smith was a true prophet sent to restore the church? They each say yes.
The girls and Rebecca leave, leaving Jeb and the Bishop alone. Jeb explains that Josie shows signs of dementia and doesn't know the difference between nightmares and reality.
Jeb asks what he should do when she has said she doesn't want to be alive anymore. The Bishop tells him that abbreviating life in any way is to challenge Heavenly Father's will. He suggests medication, sharing that many women in the congregation are on meds.
Jeb mentions the case confidentially, telling him that most of the evidence points toward the early days of Mormonism. Jeb says that one of the suspect's wives used the term "blood atonement."
Jeb asks if such things came from their history. The Bishop says he doesn't go digging in the past, and neither should Jeb. The Bishop tells Jeb to trust in the current prophet Spencer W. Kimball.
Jeb and Rebecca get ready for bed. Jeb worries that meds will take away his mother's remaining personality. Rebecca reminds him that it's temporary.
Jeb suggests postponing the girls' baptism until the case is over, so his heart can be in it. Rebecca gets angry, saying her parents are coming from Arizona, and she has worked so hard to make this perfect.
Jeb tells her he has prayed on it and has the final say. He gets down on his knees. She tells him that she has power over him in other ways. He laughs, and they kiss.
Jeb arrives at the station, where Sam is restrained and ranting loudly. Allen and Robin are listening at their respective doors.
Jeb enters Allen's cell. Allen asks if Jeb thinks Sam had anything to do with the murder. Jeb says he saw Allen's police record. Allen says he withheld the info because he didn't think it would be consequential. Jeb asks Allen who else is he protecting.
Allen explains that he and Brenda had planned their wedding for the day before her graduation from BYU so that her parents could come down for both events in one trip.
Allen says he was on his way to buy her some flowers when he got arrested — his brothers had talked him into not paying his traffic fines. Allen says Brenda was angry that he had put his brothers before her, and she confronted Dan about it.
Dan tells Brenda that the country is in shambles, and they should evade taxes. Brenda says if Allen doesn't pay the fines, his truck will be impounded — a truck his father helped him purchase. Dan asks if she's worried about Allen impressing Ammon more than him. Brenda is confused.
Dan says they cannot obey unjust laws to make their father happy. Brenda insists there must be a way to do it where they don't all go to jail. Sam tells her to honor her husband. Matilda, Sarah, and the girls go upstairs.
Dan assures Brenda that if Allen gets arrested again, he won't go to jail. Dan says he is in the running to be Sheriff. He tells her about the Missouri Massacre and how Joseph Smith ran for president.
Dan says he will get into the courts and abolish the 16th amendment. Brenda asks about the other amendments and says it all sounds crazy. Sam snaps at her and tells her to keep her mouth shut.
Allen says he recognized that Brenda was trying to help him from going astray and that wives are better at seeing their husbands clearly. Allen talks about Emma, Joseph Smith's wife — when Brigham Young was trying to convince Joseph to raise an army, Emma advised against it.
Allen mentions how Joseph Smith later became more like Brigham and believed in violence, which led to the avenging death of the Missouri Governor. Jeb asks Allen to stop. Allen asks Jeb how far up he went and if they "got to him" — was it the Bishop? The Stake President?
Jeb asks to get back on track. He asks if Allen did anything to repair the rift between Brenda and his brothers. Allen says he wanted her to be happy.
Brenda visits Allen in jail. He asks her to start a new family and not take the job at Channel 11 News. He suggests that she can get into newscasting after they have some babies, and he'll take after Ron with his own business.
Allen rants to Jeb about the injustice of asking wives to have so many kids, wondering if it's just another way the LDS men subjugate the women.
Jeb and Taba go in to question Sam.
Taba asks Sam what kind of chosen one would cut a baby's throat. Sam says he was sent to spill the blood of those on "the list."
Jeb asks about the list. Sam says he has heard Heavenly Father's voice. He tells them that Brenda was a fornicator and Erica was a product of her fornication; therefore, Heavenly Father demanded their blood.
Taba asks if Brenda cheated on Allen. Sam seems confused, saying Brenda only disobeyed her husband and the other Lafferty brothers, which he calls fornication.
Jeb asks who else is on the list, but Sam won't tell. Jeb asks who the other destroying angels are and if they were the men that ran from his cabin. Sam refuses to answer. Jeb asks about Dan, Ron, and Jacob and if they or their wives are on the list?
Sam says he feels God's love and doesn't need Jeb's.
Robin calls for Jeb. Jeb and Taba head into Robin's cell. Robin asks if Brenda and Erica are dead. Robin accuses them of trying to trick Allen. Robin asks again if they are okay.
Taba leaves and returns with photos of the crime scene. Robin breaks down in tears and swears he had no part in it. Jeb asks about Sam. Taba asks Robin who did it. Robin says Sam couldn't have.
Jeb asks Robin about the list. Robin says that if Erica was on it, there would be many more names. Robin gives him names — the Stowes and the Lowes (the Bishop, the Stake President, and their wives).
Robin says Sam was angry that they were interfering in his research about the original LDS teachings.
Jeb rushes out and tells the officers to get his car fueled and send protection to Stake President Stowe's home, and he wants an address for Bishop Lowe.
Taba and Jeb head off. Jeb thinks about what Allen said about wives.
Brenda struggles with morning sickness. Now pregnant, she wants to fight for their family. She confides in Dianna that she wants to get the Laffertys off the wicked path.