Set in 1638, Jesuit missionaries have come to New France (now eastern Ontario) to convert the natives to Christianity. The Jesuits live together in peace with the Hurons until the village of Sainte-Marie is decimated by famine and disease. The Hurons blame the missionaries and take them prisoner with the intention of sacrificing them. During what he thinks is his last night, a young unnamed Jesuit flashes back on his life and how he arrived at this point: his arrival to the New World 5 years earlier in the company of Champlain, the work and influence of Brebeuf, the Father Superior, memorable encounters with the natives, and general daily life in the village. Back in the present, the young Jesuit begins to have a crisis of faith and struggles against his demons that contact with the Hurons have awakened; he reflects on the righteousness of his mission, the sanctity of his chastity and goes so far as to question the existence of God all the while anticipating his impending doom. Based on the Jesuit Relations, the actual journals of missionary life.