Jessaby playfully chases his sister Ada before they have sex with each other in the woods. Meanwhile, Dawai the potter sculpts a jug and places it in an outdoor kiln while in a trance. Ada returns home and learns that she is to be joined to Bodey at the next full moon, provided that she has been true. Her father Sustin signs a contract in blood with Bodey's father. Everyone in the community is invited for a celebratory dinner. Hiding the fact that she has missed her period, Ada puts red paint on the inside of her underwear to pass her mother's inspection. Before leaving Dawai's, Ada looks into the kiln and sees that the jug has her face. She buries the jug in the forest. After the dinner, Jessaby threatens his sister about keeping their secret. Ada takes a plate to her invalid grandfather who resides in a trailer out back.While her father sells moonshine in town, Ada steals a pregnancy test. The test is positive. Ada later does laundry at a creek with Bodey's sister Eilen. Dawai searches for the missing jug. While hanging clothes to dry, Ada has a vision of an emaciated boy. Something then crawls out of the pit in the forest that the community holds in reverence and it kills Eilen. After finding the body, Eilen's mother blows a shofar to summon everyone to the pit.The community tries to understand why the pit killed someone without producing a jug first. When the pit decides whom it wants sacrificed, it gives a vision to the potter, who then sculpts a jug in that person's image. By keeping the pit satiated, its believers can use the pit's healing powers. Dawai reveals that he may have had a vision, but he never found a jug face. Ada visits Dawai and finds that he has a jug with a baby on it, but he never told anyone since no one has a baby. Ada suggests that Dawai think hard and create another jug based on what he remembers. When Ada returns home, her mother Loriss inspects between her legs and discovers that she is not a virgin. Loriss punishes Ada by slicing her knuckles, although Ada claims that she only pleasured herself and did not have sex. Sustin later comforts his daughter. Before they go to sleep, Ada tells Jessaby that she is pregnant.The community gathers at the pit and Dawai produces a jug with Bodey's face. Bodey allows his throat to be slit in sacrifice to the pit. Ada visits her grandfather and sees the emaciated boy again. The boy belongs to "The Shunned," people killed by the pit out of turn. The boy reveals that he is shunned because Ada's grandfather once hid a jug face of Ada's grandmother. The pit did not forgive him and that is why he is an invalid. The boy tells Ada that she must die in the pit to set things right.Jessaby tells his father that he is sick. Sustin takes him to the pit over Ada's protestations. Jessaby bathes in the pit and it kills him while Ada goes into a trance. Sustin blows the horn. Ada reveals to Dawai that the pit wants her and her baby. Sustin comes to Dawai's and repeatedly punches the potter. Dawai tells Sustin and Bodey's father that he lost the original jug and was only guessing when he created Bodey's jug. Sustin and the community tie Dawai to a log near the pit, presuming that the pit will eventually take him.Ada frees Dawai and they hitchhike into town. They try to sell moonshine to the storeowner, but he calls Sustin instead. Ada and Dawai are returned to the community and whipped. Ada later loses her baby while Loriss bathes her. Ada tells her parents that it was Jessaby's child. She then sneaks out of her bedroom window to visit her grandfather and summon the emaciated boy. The boy tells her that she must be sacrificed. While Sustin confronts Dawai as he is chained to the log again, the pit kills Sustin. Dawai blows the horn. Ada confesses to hiding her jug face when her mother attempts to kill Dawai over Sustin's death. Ada recovers her jug face and is then tied up next to Dawai.In the night, Ada's grandfather visits with the emaciated boy and tells Ada to leave. Ada learns that Dawai will be spared if she sacrifices herself, so she chooses to die instead. In the morning, Ada has her throat slit in ceremony over the pit. Dawai is freed and he places Ada's jug face on his shelf.