Retired Detective Inspector Ann Grieves, now private investigator, probes the dark secrets of Arcadia, a remote religious sect in West Auckland where abuse of adults and children is rife. After blowing the whistle on their narcissistic leader, a young dairy foreman is found dead. Ann and her sidekick Tim head up Operation White-tail, the criminal investigation of the community's brutal shepherds. Tim enters Arcadia as an undercover detective, exposing the mind control of their misogynistic, cruel leader and the dilemma facing residents too terrified to escape.