Mother Abagail selects a surprising voice to be her conduit to her chosen Committee in Boulder: the young deaf man Nick Andros. The arrival of a disturbing visitor to the Boulder Free Zone, shakes the Committee and Boulder residents to their core. Elsewhere in the Free Zone, Nadine Cross is haunted by a childhood memory.

Nadine and Harold's dark intentions continue to take shape. Meanwhile, the Committee's spies entrench themselves in New Vegas, where Flagg is building his own society, where officially-sanctioned sin and debauchery disguises a ruthlessly-enforced order. Back in Boulder, Frannie hatches a plan to confirm her suspicions of Harold while Mother Abagail seeks divine council.