January 1987, Small Plains, Kansas. On the night of the decade's worst blizzard, a boy discovers the naked corps, of a young woman. No one can identify her, so she is buried with a simple gravestone.

Seventeen years later, the mysterious dead girl the 'Virgin of Small Plains' - has inspired a local myth. Strange miracles have visited those who faithfully tend her grave, and the town becomes a haven for an onslaught of spiritual seekers and the terminally ill. When the mysterious Mitch Newquist reappears and a tornado devastates Small Plains, the truth begins to emerge. What really happened seventeen years ago? Why did Mitch vanish - abandoning his first love, Abby - the night the Virgin's body was found? And why are some of the town's leading citizens so determined that the truth remain buried?