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Deep in the Georgia woods, Will Trent and Sara Linton are drawn together again when a disturbing discovery interrupts their fragile routines. Sara, the town’s coroner and pediatrician, and Jeffrey Tolliver, her ex-husband and the local police chief, are walking through the dense forest when their dog stumbles upon a steel pipe rising out of the ground. Curious and uneasy, they dig and uncover something that chills them both — a coffin buried in the earth, containing the body of a young woman. The sight shocks them, but the worst part is that the girl hadn’t been dead for long. She was buried alive, left to suffocate in the dark. The case immediately becomes personal for Sara and Jeffrey, reopening wounds from their past and exposing the undercurrents of violence running through their small town.
Sara, still carrying scars from her own traumatic experiences, struggles to maintain her composure as the investigation unfolds. The victim’s frail body bears signs of starvation and confinement, hinting at long-term abuse. Jeffrey, hardened by years of police work but sensitive to Sara’s pain, leads the case with quiet determination. They begin combing through the surrounding area, finding traces of disturbed earth and faint tire tracks. The evidence leads them to a nearby religious commune, an isolated farm run by the Ward family — a devout, secretive group known for their strict adherence to faith and obedience. The Wards live apart from the town, growing their own food, raising livestock, and keeping to themselves. Their leader, the stern and manipulative Ephraim Ward, rules with an iron fist cloaked in scripture. His wife, Catherine, meek and resigned, spends her days serving others in silence, while their children, including the timid Rebecca and her rebellious sister Faith, live under constant fear of punishment.
When the police question Ephraim, he denies everything, claiming his family knows nothing about the murdered girl. Yet Sara’s instincts tell her otherwise. The victim’s fingernails are coated in dirt, her skin scratched raw, and her stomach nearly empty. The signs point to prolonged captivity — someone kept her hidden, perhaps close by. As Sara and Jeffrey dig deeper, they discover that the Wards have long been suspected of mistreating their children and the hired workers who live on their land. But without proof, the authorities had always kept their distance, unwilling to challenge the family’s religious rights. Now, with a murdered girl tied to them, that uneasy peace shatters.
Meanwhile, Lena Adams, one of Jeffrey’s most headstrong detectives, becomes personally entangled in the case. Still reeling from her own trauma and her toxic relationship with her abusive boyfriend, she throws herself into the investigation, seeking both distraction and redemption. Her temper and impulsive decisions often clash with Jeffrey’s methods, but her tenacity uncovers critical leads. She grows suspicious of one of the Ward sons, a quiet young man named Seth, who seems terrified and withdrawn. Seth tries to warn her about something dark happening within the commune, but fear of his father silences him. Lena, sensing the danger but unable to step back, presses harder and finds herself in deeper trouble than she expects.
The team uncovers that the murdered girl had once been part of the Ward family’s farm workers, brought there through a local program that offered jobs to troubled youth. Her name was Mary, a quiet teenager from a broken home. She had disappeared months earlier, but no one outside the commune had raised much alarm. Slowly, Sara and Jeffrey piece together that Mary had been singled out by Ephraim for disobedience. She had tried to run away, but the family had captured her and buried her alive as punishment — a cruel act disguised as purification. The horror of it shakes Sara to her core, especially as she begins to suspect that another girl from the commune may still be alive, imprisoned somewhere underground.
Jeffrey and his officers raid the Ward property again, uncovering hidden storage sheds, tunnels, and makeshift shelters built beneath the barn. The deeper they go, the more signs of torture and imprisonment they find — chains, old food containers, a Bible smeared with dirt and blood. Sara feels the weight of every discovery, haunted by the image of the girl suffocating alone in the dark. She pushes herself to keep going, examining every clue while trying to shield herself from the growing despair. The investigation draws Sara and Jeffrey closer again, rekindling a mix of affection, anger, and pain from their past marriage. Both realize how much they still depend on each other, even as old wounds resurface.
Lena’s investigation takes a dangerous turn when she goes back to the commune alone, hoping to confront Seth and rescue the missing girl. But Ephraim’s control over his family runs deep. He catches her snooping around and locks her up in the same underground chamber where Mary had once been kept. Trapped in the dark, Lena begins to lose hope. She can barely breathe, the air thick with earth and decay. But her stubborn will to survive keeps her moving. She uses a piece of broken metal to dig at the dirt walls, desperate for an escape. Outside, Jeffrey and Sara realize she’s missing and race back to the Ward farm, fearing the worst.
The tension builds as the police surround the property. Catherine, Ephraim’s wife, finally breaks down and confesses that her husband had been using their faith to justify cruelty for years. He preached submission and punishment as divine justice, forcing everyone — including their children — to obey his every command. The buried girl, she admits, had been made an example after she tried to leave. With her confession, Jeffrey and his team rush to the underground cell, digging frantically until they find Lena alive but barely conscious. The missing girl, Rebecca Ward, is discovered nearby — bruised, malnourished, but alive. Ephraim tries to flee, shouting verses and curses, but Jeffrey tackles him, ending his reign of terror.
As the case closes, the emotional toll is immense. Sara spends hours in the morgue with Mary’s body, promising herself that the girl’s death won’t be forgotten. She reflects on the fragility of life, the ease with which faith can be twisted into cruelty, and the deep scars left by violence — both physical and emotional. Jeffrey stands by her side, realizing how much the darkness of their work binds them as much as it divides them. Lena, recovering in the hospital, faces her own reckoning. She’s alive, but her choices have pushed her to a breaking point. She must confront the pain she’s been avoiding — her abusive relationship, her guilt, her anger — and find a way to start again.
In the aftermath, the small Georgia town tries to return to normal, but the shadows of the case linger. Sara drives past the forest where the coffin was found, the image burned into her memory. She thinks about Mary’s final moments — the panic, the gasping breaths, the desperate hope that someone would come. The thought hardens her resolve to keep fighting for victims, no matter how unbearable the truth may be. For Jeffrey, the case reaffirms his respect for Sara’s strength and compassion, and he hopes for reconciliation between them, though both know that their shared pain may always stand between them.
Catherine Ward and her surviving children are taken into protective custody, their future uncertain. The commune’s farm is shut down, its dark legacy uncovered. Reporters flood the town, hungry for details, but Sara and Jeffrey keep their silence. For them, the story isn’t about sensationalism — it’s about the quiet tragedies hidden behind closed doors, the faith twisted into control, and the endurance of those who suffer in silence.
As the sun sets over the town, Sara finally allows herself a moment of stillness. The case has ended, but the echoes of what they’ve uncovered will never truly fade. She thinks of the buried girl — not as a victim, but as a reminder of why she does what she does. In the stillness of her lab, surrounded by the tools of her work, she whispers a silent promise to the lost: that their stories will be told, and that justice, however fragile, will be found.