Adolescent Ninah lives in a strict fundamentalist Christian community (The Church of Fire and Brimstone and God's Almighty Baptizing Wind) led by her grandfather Herman.

Despite the rules, Ninah cannot stop herself from falling in love with James, a boy a year older who is also her nephew by marriage.

The community allows Ninah and James to become "prayer partners" in order that they can spend time with one another in the hopes of a future marriage.

Writing for The New York Times, Zofia Smardz praised Reynolds for writing "a truly rapturous love story" with "two unforgettable characters" but also criticized her for leaving "a curious blank at the heart of her novel by sidestepping the motivations of the church's zealous patriarch".

[2] M. J. McAteer of The Washington Post observed that the author "often has too heavy a hand" and concluded that "Reynolds would do better to let readers pick up the threads themselves".