Upstanding citizen Ed Smart lives happily with his wife and five children in Salt Lake City until youngest daughter Mary Katherine is the traumatized sole witness to the kidnapping from their home of her sister Elizabeth. After treating Ed and his eldest son Charles as prime suspects for statistics' sake, undermining initially wide community support, they concentrate on jailed pedophile Richard Ricci. For months the investigation goes nowhere, even after it becomes clear that Ricci is innocent. The lunatic kidnapper, homeless handyman turned mini-sect prophet 'Emmanuel', and his blindly-devoted wife meanwhile attempt to indoctrinate 'adopted, chosen' Elizabeth, but fate and his alcohol demon lead to his capture.
