The scene opens in an 18th century colony, a man in the appropriate garb rushing from church enraged. "It’s not God’s will!" He screams at those following him out of the church. He yells of blasphemy and asks how long they’re willing to wait before he flees into the woods. A voice from inside the church calls him back but he ignores it. He runs until he comes to a bridge. As he tries to cross it the bridge appears to get longer, and he appears to run in place. He collapses in exhaustion and turns to find a preacher looking over him. The preacher places his hand on the man’s forehead and energy washes over him before he falls dead.
At Angel Island, Nick approaches Derek with a map displaying an anomalous admission of energy over a forest in Washington state where numerous disappearances have occurred in 50 year cycles. Derek doesn’t anything will come of investigating the discharge and decides that Nick should take Rachel with him. Rachel has been suffering flashbacks to the pilot and is having difficulty coming to terms with what happened to her. Nick approaches Rachel and convinces her to come with him.
Nick and Rachel stop at a gas station and question the owner about the area, in particular if he knows Samuel MacAllister whose brother disappeared 50 years ago. The man doesn’t like their questioning and brushes them off coldly. They continue up the road until it ends then hike in. Nick explains to Rachel about the discharge he noticed on the piso (?) map and they talk a bit about Nick’s involvement in the Navy Seals until the sound of a bell interrupts. Looking up, they see a bridge across a stream which they decide to cross. As they cross, we see a green energy discharge rippling around them for an instant. They continue along the path to find the colony. Entering the church they find a man illuminated by the dust streaming in the window preaching fire and brimstone. He welcomes them to the colony, New Eden and names himself as the Right Reverend Abraham Hawkings.
Within the colony, Rachel and Nick are separated for the evening meal. Reverend Hawkings tells them that they can not leave until morning. Nick tells Rachel that the cel phones aren’t working and that he’s going to go back to the truck and call the Legacy. She agrees with his plan before Sister Ester, one of the stricter female colonists pulls her off to bed. Rachel discovers she’s locked in her room which is freezing due to a lack of glass in the windows and insulation. Sister Sarah, who had spoken to her at the dinner table sneaks in to speak with Rachel. She asks her if the world is still a "desolate waste", if the messiah had yet come. Rachel tries to calm the girl, telling her she could leave with them. Sarah asks how she intends to leave. "Same way we came," smiled Rachel, "Over the bridge." "I thought you knew a way," Sarah replies dejectedly before she flees Rachel’s room.
Meanwhile, Nick escapes out the glassless window and jogs out of the colony. When he reaches the bridge the same thing that occurred to the colonist in the first scene occurs to him. He hears the voices of the colonists running to catch him and slides down the bank of the stream. There he finds the body of the other colonist and is knocked unconscious.
At the Legacy, Derek is concerned that Nick and Rachel didn’t check in. Alex has discovered more information about the area they went to investigate. It seems the disappearances have been occurring in 50 year cycles since 1796, and that even the native people had stories about colonist who brought a horrible plague before vanishing. Derek decides they should go look for Nick and Rachel and tells Alex to have Philip fax them whatever information he can find.
Back in the colony, Nick is chained up besides a younger boy who tells him there is no way out of the colony. Rachel speaks with the Reverend Hawking about the colony and asks where Nick is. The Reverend is apt to quote the bible without answering her questions. In another building, some of the women speak with Sarah who has come to doubt the Reverend. Sister Ester silences the debate, telling them to think of the time of the "Vigil" only two days away. Outside, Reverend Hawking quotes the passage in Genesis about Rachel coming to Jacob to bear him sons while holding a smoldering iron cross above Rachel.
Alex and Derek stop at the gas station where Rachel and Nick had been the day before. The owner appears concerned about their disappearance and is hiding something from the two. They continue along the road until they find the truck Nick and Rachel rented. Most of their equipment is in the back, and they surmise the two meant to come back for it.
Meanwhile, Rachel finds out from Sarah where they are keeping Nick and goes to speak with him. She tells him that "If there’s a key out of this, the Reverend has it." Derek and Alex start to cross the bridge that leads to the colony, but Derek stops them. He takes a branch and discovers the energy ring that has trapped everyone who ventures into the town.
The Reverend Hawking has Rachel attend dinner with him privately in his quarters. He claims the Nick has offended God and that he is the only one who understands God. He continues quoting Genesis and insists God sent Rachel to be his Eve and that together they must repopulate the Earth anew. He then attempts to rape Rachel but she fights him, setting his bed on fire in the process.
The scene then changes to Derek and Alex who have received info of Reverend Hawking. The is a noise outside which turns out to be the gas station owner. He reveals he is Samuel MacAllister, the man who’s brother had been lost 50 years ago.
In the colony, Rachel has been dressed in sack-cloth and tied to a stake. Sarah is lead out dressed in the same manner and tied to another stake. As the Reverend preaches Sarah is burned at the stake, he then turns to Rachel and asks again for her to join him. She spits in his face as he preaches of the glories of God. He turns, enraged.
Dawn comes and the boy who was with Nick is brought out and is tied to a stake. Again the Reverend asks Rachel to reconsider. She denounces his words, and stands righteous even in her subjugated possession. At the bridge, Derek crosses alone and walks toward the colony. Another colonist comes to bring Nick to his stake. Nick’s sun glasses fall to the floor and seeing his reflection the colonist flips allowing Nick the opportunity to escape. Nick meets with Derek and the both go to the Reverend’s chamber where they find a hidden mirror.
That night, on the Vigil, the Reverend preaches as he prepares to burn Rachel and the boy at the stake. Derek’s voice breaks through his proclamations and the Reverend orders him seized. "How could they do it Reverend? How could the dead take hold of the living?" Derek pulls the mirror from his coat which reveals the colonists to be animated corpses. He tells them that the only power that the Reverend has over them is the power he gives them, that now they are free to go. The colonists rise up in beams of light, the Reverend still preaching as Nick frees the boy and Rachel. The Reverend struggles against the light, but it overtakes him as well. The illusion of the colony is washed away in a gust of wind and Rachel, Derek, Nick and the boy find themselves in the forest. Samuel MacAllister rushes out, hugging the boy, his brother, as he ages from a teenager to an old man in only moments. Derek turns to Rachel, apologizing for the danger he has put her in. Shivering, she says she finally understands what he’s been trying to tell her, and she finally realizes her place in the Legacy.
Description last revised: 24 November 1996