The movie is set in the fictional Hope County, Montana, where a preacher named Joseph Seed has risen to prominence. Seed believes that he has been chosen by God to protect the people of Hope County from "the Collapse", a global catastrophe that will see the collapse of society, and to this end has established a congregation called the Project at Eden's Gate. Ostensibly, this is to fulfill his mission of leading the people to salvation; in reality, Seed is a radical preacher and Eden's Gate is a militaristic doomsday cult. Under his rule, Eden's Gate has used both coercion and violence to forcibly convert the residents of Hope County. Seed has assumed the title of "the Father" and maintains control over Hope County with the aid of the Heralds: Jacob, "the Soldier", a former United States Army sniper and Joseph's older brother who oversees the training and deployment of the cult's armed soldiers; John, "the Baptist", Joseph's younger brother and a lawyer who has been able to acquire much of the land in Hope County for Eden's Gate and who leads the forcible conversion of residents; and Rachel Jessop, also known as Faith or "the Siren", a botanist who acts as a pacifist to bring the people to trust in Joseph, but uses a powerful hallucinogen called Bliss to run forced labor camps for residents who resist the cult. The Heralds have converted a series of decommissioned missile silos into fortified bunkers where they intend to wait out "the Collapse" with the cult's followers.
