It began on a quiet Sunday in Gatlin, Nebraska. That was the day the children slaughtered all the grownups. Isaac, the boy preacher, told them that He Who Walks Behind the Rows was pleased, and three years later the children still follow Isaac and his evil teenage disciple, Malachai. When a young couple accidently drive into Gatlin, they begin to discover the town's terrible secrets and become part of the children's bloody mission.

Waging an all-out war against an unseen enemy, a force more powerful and deadly than any on Earth-because the predator is not of this Earth.

A Union major late in the Civil War takes it upon himself to punish a band of Apaches who murdered a ranch family and fled into Mexico. Being short of troops he uses Confederate prisoners, ex-slaves and criminals to accomplish his goal.