It discusses political unrest among the Nephites and the formation of a group of secret dissenters called the Gadianton Robbers.
When Nephi returns home, he correctly identifies the murderer of the chief judge using his prophetic powers, and sends a famine to the Nephite which lasts three years.
After a digression from Mormon, the book of Helaman ends with Samuel the Lamanite's prophecy of the signs that will precede Christ's birth and death.
Helaman deals with themes of external and internal conflict, hidden information, Nephite racism, and Mormon's views of history as deduced by his redaction of it.
The miraculous incidents in Helaman 5 describe a significant conversion of many Lamanites to Book of Mormon Christianity.
Angels and a pillar of fire manifest and their presence sparks the conversion of onlookers, who in turn convert the Lamanites, who peaceably leave the Nephite lands they were occupying.
For Gardner, Mormon isn't just trying to fulfill Nephi's vision, but also to show that Christ's coming is a type, and that it was and will be preceded by war and contention.
[8] According to Maxwell Institute scholar Kim Matheson, Helaman's contrasts show how the Nephites are constantly noticing the wrong things.
Important aspects of the plot are covert, like the secret combinations, assassins, and spiritual alignment with God.
For Grant Hardy, in his The Annotated Book of Mormon, since Samuel is a Lamanite, it is possible that Nephite racism contributed to their rejection of him.
[2] For Matheson, Nephite racism causes them to reject Samuel, and their interest in comparing themselves to the Lamanites prevents them from honestly repenting of their misdeeds.
[12] For Tanner, Mormon draws attention to his commentary with the phrase "thus we see," and his "fullest articulation of the cyclical pattern" is found in Helaman 12.
Hardy draws a parallel to a similar cycle in the Biblical Book of Judges, noting that in Helaman, communal repentance plays a larger role.
In the larger narrative of the Book of Mormon, this cycle is broken for 200 years after Jesus visits the land.