Reverend Jonathan Vale, a well-respected but rigid preacher in a small New England town with a stern voice, a sharp mind—and a fearsome obsession with sin and punishment.

The trouble begins when a series of murders shock the parish: a drunkard found dead with a Bible verse pinned to his chest, another victim—a gossiping widow—discovered with Scripture scrawled on her mirror in blood-red lipstick. Each death corresponds to a passage about divine wrath, vengeance, or damnation.