When Frank and Clair Miller retire to a small town in the West, they encounter the Colony - a nickname for a large unique Christian community situated there. The Millers begin a secular anthropological study of this culture which, through their view as outsiders, is foreign to them. They learn of the Colony's family lives, business practices, uses of modern technology, and their views on the arts, as well as a worship style they have never seen before. As the study progresses, the colliding values cause radical and unexpected changes in their lives - changes which have both a positive and negative impact on them personally and on their marriage. Can they remain the same people they were before this confrontation?