Ziad Jarrah, a young Lebonese man from a good family goes to Germany to attend college and starts dating a Turkish girl named Aysel. Although not very religious and accustomed to Western ways, Ziad becomes "brothers" with some fundamentalist Muslims and is slowly drawn into becoming "a Good Muslim". Mohamed Atta and others instill Ziad with a hatred of Jews and "Infidels", which leads to a desire for Jihad and martyrdom. He moves to Hamburg to study aeronautical engineering, attends an Al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan, and deceives his girlfriend and family about his involvement. He eventually attends flight school in Florida with Atta and others, waiting for and preparing for "the big wedding" (the 9/11 attack). Meanwhile, US government and law enforcement officials fail to act despite believing that a major terrorist attack is imminent, and despite noticing a number of suspicious persons involved in flight training.

Tyler Clarke is on the red-eye to New York City. Two days ago she received a cryptic voice-mail from her sister Jessica. She was asking for help but she didn't say why. And now that Tyler has come to the city to help her, Jessica is nowhere to be found. In order to find out what has happened, Tyler must delve into a world of darkness and lies, the underbelly of a spiritually depraved community living in a deconsecrated cathedral. They call themselves "The Collective." And Jessica is one of them. Tyler is forced to ask the ultimate question, is she ready to risk her own life to save her sister's?