Trapped in Blackwood Cemetery for hundreds of years, the devil Mara forms her first bond with humanity thanks to a little girl Nora and a basket of red apples. When Nora grows up and is brutally beaten to death by her abusive husband Cal, leaving two orphaned children Lily and Ben behind, Mara breaks her cemetery confinement, resurrects in Nora’s body and vows to guard the kids as their mother. She learns to cook, farm and run a household from scratch, punishes violent men who hurt women, and shelters every vulnerable woman in Blackwater Hollow. She transports water hundreds of miles to end the deadly drought that starves the town, splits her spirit into ravens to lead lost soldiers home during wartime, and faces misunderstanding from an exorcist priest—yet eventually wins the whole village’s trust and gratitude. As decades pass, Nora, Ruth, Lily and all the townsfolk she loved grow old and pass away one by one, but Mara keeps her promise to protect their bloodline. Centuries later, a reincarnated little girl Daisy meets her again with a red apple in hand. In modern times, locals build the Devil Mother Chapel to honor her: a dark yet heartwarming tale proving good and evil are never judged by one’s identity, but by every choice they make.
