The murder of a detained church arsonist leads a police captain to discover his own daughter's connection to a deadly conspiracy within the Catholic Church.

SYNOPSIS:

In a prologue calling back to the first film in the series, The Gods Demand Blood, Colin St Michael, a city police captain, watches his daughter, Hannah, play cello during a recital. A gunman attacks, causing mass casualties. Another young woman, Maya Krol, Hannah’s friend, screams in horror.

Two years later, a fire destroys a Catholic church. A young man, Tom Weber, is in custody. Colin asks Tom if he set the fire, but Tom answers with a Bible verse that identifies him as a member of “Saint Peter’s Rock,” an alt-right gang. Witnesses linger near, including Maya and Hannah, who angrily asks her father whether he will arrest Tom. Later, Hannah returns the her father’s home, where she still lives. She explains the importance of the church, and that another church burned down under similar circumstances. She also announces she’s moving in with Maya.

Colin listens as Archbishop Giovanni “John” Abruzzo gives a talk in the parish hall of St. Peter the Martyr Cathedral. Abruzzo refers to a plan to consolidate parishes due to low membership. Listening with Colin is Erin Gallagher, president of Western Financial, a major regional bank, and other dignitaries. Colin and Erin are lovers. After the talk, Colin and Abruzzo discuss gang activity.

Protesters have gathered outside the meeting. A rock is thrown through a window. Colin tracks the vandal, but loses him inside the cathedral. Colin finds his daughter praying at a side chapel for the Virgin Mary. She explains her commitment to social justice activism, which upsets the conservative Colin. Later, in Erin’s apartment, Colin relates Hannah’s evolution from musician to activist. Colin learns the archdiocese is a major customer of her bank.

Hannah helps lead a march to a downtown square, monitored by a phalanx of police commanded by Colin. Maya sees Tom Weber, who bailed out of jail. Hannah scolds Maya for associating with the alt-right. Unknown to Hannah, a mysterious priest has told Maya to watch Tom. When the marchers reach the square, the gang causes mayhem. Away from the march, Maya and Tom hook up. She then attacks him from behind with a broom handle. Hannah is arrested after injuring a police officer.

A judge dismisses the charges against Hannah and the other demonstrators. She is met at the courthouse by her grandmother, Kathryn St. Michael, Colin’s mother. Hannah asks to be taken to the cathedral, where she explains to Kathryn her interest in the quiet space. Colin interrogates Tom, who survived Maya’s attack, but won’t name her as the assailant. Maya reports to the mysterious priest, who tells her to try again to kill Tom, this time with a gun. At home, Colin and Hannah confront each other over the riot. Kathryn, a retired detective, reveals she knows Abruzzo. Colin warns her not to free-lance. Hannah questions Maya over her relationship to Tom.

After Tom is released from the hospital, Colin’s second, Jolene Black, follows him to a safe house. Joined by Colin, they watch as gang members get in a car and take off. Colin orders Jolene to follow. They’re spotted and a chase ensues, but they lose the quarry. They return to the safe house and find Tom dead. Elsewhere, Kathryn goes undercover as a volunteer at the St. Peter’s food bank. She sneaks into Abruzzo’s office, where she reveals herself as the police officer who sent Abruzzo to prison before he became a priest. She begins to see an illegal relationship between him and Western Financial.

Colin confronts Erin with her payoffs to Abruzzo to secure her bank’s interest in property development on the land where the burned churches once stood. Hannah goes to Maya’s apartment, and discovers her with a gang member. Maya leaves, and Hannah follows discreetly. Maya goes to a closed church and sets it ablaze, which Hannah witnesses. Maya is killed in the fire.

Warned by Erin, Abruzzo prepares to run with the help of Saint Peter’s Rock. Delayed by an unexpected commitment he can’t break without raising suspicions, he says Mass in the cathedral. Colin arrives to arrest him, but he tries to escape. Colin and Jolene gives chase, which winds up in the bell tower. After a gunfight, Abruzzo falls to his death, stolen money drifting around him. Hannah reveals she has become a novice for the Sisters of Compassion order. Colin wonders when he’ll see her again.

THE GODS DEMAND FLESH