The story opens as Rayford Steele is battling rage at the stress of the current situation he's in. The time is near the mid-point of the Tribulation, and Christians are being persecuted and forced to hide. Rayford is leader of the Tribulation Force. Rayford's daughter Chloe, her husband Cameron Buck Williams, and their infant son Kenny are healthy and hiding out with Rayford at a safe house in Illinois. Also at the house are a non-believer named Hattie Durham, a doctor named Floyd Charles, and a Biblical scholar named Tsion Ben-Judah. One morning Floyd is sick, and Buck rushes him to the hospital where a nurse, Leah Rose, says there's nothing she can do except make him comfortable. Members of the Global Community peacekeeping force are looking for members of the Tribulation Force and Leah has to smuggle Buck and the dying Floyd out of the hospital. Once away, Leah is a fugitive and takes refuge in the safe house. She tells Rayford that she has a small fortune hidden at her house and they go to retrieve it. There, they are confronted by the GC officers and an army of Biblical horsemen with the heads of lions and tails of snakes. The horsemen bring death and destruction, mostly to non-believers, and take the lives of roughly half of the world's remaining people.

Chloe is helping to organize a world-wide trading community that will serve believers after the prophesy of the Mark of the Beast is fulfilled because Christians will no longer be able to buy goods and services on the open market after that time. Leah is soon looking for something to fill her days, and she becomes the person who collects and disseminates information to the other members of the Tribulation Force.

As the Christians watch, various aspects of the prophecy come to pass. They know there is to be a time when two witnesses in Israel are silenced and are amazed when Carpathia plans a "Global Gala" celebration to coincide with that day. Buck is convinced to attend, though there is to be an earthquake and he knows his life could be in danger. Leah is sent on a mission and Rayford disappears without telling anyone his plans. He is actually attending the Global Gala as well, planning to put himself in the position to be the person who assassinates Carpathia, in keeping with the prophecy. As the gala unfolds, Buck is on hand to see the witnesses killed by Carpathia, watches their corpses rot over several days and sees them in restored bodies before they ascend physically into Heaven. As Rayford sees his opportunity to make a successful shot at Carpathia, he is paralyzed and unable to take the shot. He's bumped, the gun fires and he then sees Carpathia lying on the stage, blood running from an obviously fatal head wound. Rayford isn't certain what happened but comes to believe that he might have fired the fatal shot after all. Tsion is confused, saying that he hadn't believed it would be a gunshot that ends Carpathia's life. Days pass with Carpathia lying in state as his followers mourn. Tsion warns that Carpathia will be resurrected, and he and Chloe watch for that event, certain to be televised. Before that can happen, Carpathia's right-hand-man, Leon Fortunato, looks at a tape of the shooting and identifies the assassin.