Serena is devastated when her lifelong friend, Aminadab, is banned from Zarahemla for abandoning his faith and persecuting the saints. To add to her despair, she loses the rare ruby her father entrusted to her.
Unbeknownst to her, Aminadab finds the ruby and takes it as his only reminder of Serena. Now an outcast, he joins the company of dissenters seeking refuge among the bloodthristy Lamanites, the very people who killed his parents. He also discovers that the dissenters he has fallen in favor with are at the heart of a Gadianton plot to start a war between the Nephites and Lamanites.