In the summer of 1980, Reverend John Wesley Asbury is sent to be the Pastor at First United Methodist Church in Cain City, Georgia. He and his wife Susan, along with their three children, move there to their new home in that small Georgia town. Wesley and Susan remembered that back in the mid-sixties the District Attorney in Cain City had been murdered by a crime syndicate. At that time, they ran a stolen car ring. Before that it was moonshine whiskey. Now they deal in drugs.
Wesley Asbury wonders why no one was ever prosecuted for the murder or any other crime. He begins to ask around. He discovers the Cain brothers, Major and Garth, not only run Cain City Mill, but also local politics, city hall, and the school. Unknown to Asbury, they run the local crime ring as well.
With the newspaper editor and a local businessman, Asbury looks for answers. With the help of some secret person, known as the Messenger, they begin to find them. But will what they learn solve anything, help a new Mayor be elected, and make any real difference in Cain City? Who really gets the breaks in a town like that?