In the Mississippi Delta of 1926, mail-order bride Mattie Mills is delivered from the hands of her abusive stepfather to those of small-town Jexville's local barber, a man whose thinly-veiled private vices are tolerated by the hypocritical townspeople. Mattie finds solace in her friendship with JoHanna, an eccentric and independent woman who has chosen to defy the town's conventions and face its dishonesty head on. JoHanna's safety comes through her marriage to Will, a handsome, well-respected bootlegger to the rich and powerful. But that safety is shattered when Duncan, JoHanna and Will's daughter, miraculously survives a strike by lightning. The experience leaves her with the ability to foretell the future, convincing the townsfolk that the sins of the mother have been visited on the daughter, who wears the mark of Satan. All those who are in JoHanna's circle are prey to the wrath of the self-righteous town, and Mattie finds herself caught in the whirlwind of violence and revenge, as long-dead secrets rise from the depths of the murky Pascagoula River.