Do not read this if you want to read the finished product without knowing what happens first.

Jonah Joseph arrives home one night to find the playpen left in the backyard with the baby’s toys strewn about, the back door unlocked, and his wife and daughter missing. Together with his wife’s family, a close friend, and his Deaf neighbors, Jonah scrambles to uncover the truth about the disappearance.

Was it revenge from a fired employee? Could it have been Ashley’s sister with whom Jonah had once had an affair? Was it the landscaper who was wanted for murder? Did Ashley simply leave? Or did Jonah have something to do with it? (The police seem to think so.) Everyone is a suspect in what seems like a nefarious act of abduction.

As a young teen, Jonah escaped his father’s cultish church when his parents divorced. A suspicious text “This is what happens when you turn your back on God” reunites Jonah with his father. The father, who is the leader of the church, forgives Jonah for joining his mother after the divorce, prompting Jonah to question, “What is that, forgiveness as a weapon?”

All the while, we see glimpses of Ashley trapped in a coffinlike box with no idea of how she got there. The identity of her captor is unknown.

The reveal shows Jimmy, the Joseph’s teenage neighbor who has been learning Brazilian Jiu Jitsu from Jonah, as the villain. Jimmy, struggling with the death of his mother for which he blames himself, is the only hearing member of a loving *Deaf family. When Jonah’s close friend Alessandro (who is also deaf but has been mainstreamed) gets too close to the truth, Jimmy confronts him violently, only to be clobbered by a medical dictionary wielded by his own older sister.

Jimmy is convicted of murder and faces his victims family as they give their impact statements in court. While Jonah is giving his statement, his father enters the courtroom, prompting Jonah to abandon his written statement in what appears to be a moment of grace as he unleashes unvarnished forgiveness upon Jimmy. Jimmy commits suicide in prison a few days later, leaving the reader with the question: Was it forgiveness, or was it murder?

*Denotes the difference between Deaf and deaf. A capital D is reserved for people who identify as members of Deaf culture.