The town of Elk's Ridge, West Virginia, was built on a dream: The dream of war-scarred Vietnam veterans to live in peace and harmony, in a place untouched by violence, crime, corruption, or greed. A living Norman Rockwell painting, governed by the most basic values and free of all things considered undesirable by its founders. It was supposed to be paradise. And for a while, it was. Over the years, some in Elk's Ridge have grown restless. They fear their refuge has become a prison ... or a tomb. And they yearn to do the forbidden: escape. But when one desperate bid for freedom ends in a tragic accident, a heinous act of mob justice suddenly tears the idyllic mask from this promised land and the evil its residents sought to keep out blooms from within. Now, as a deadly chain reaction of events threatens the future of Elk's Ridge, its elders gird for battle against the real world. And a group of terrified teens prepare to make their own stand--against the people they once trusted and the only life they've ever known. Because there's nothing left to do but fight or die.