Mulder's curiosity is piqued when Scully plays him a video tape on which the Reverend Calvin Hartley and his 18-year-old adopted son Samuel hold a service for their Miracle Ministry congregation. As the tape progresses, Samuel places his hand on an ailing woman. Scully explains that the woman was rushed to the hospital, where she died of undetermined causes.

The agents travel to a remote town in Tennessee where Reverend Hartley and his followers began their base of operations. There they confer with Sheriff Daniels, who explains his belief that Samuel literally possesses the "touch of death." Samuel mysteriously disappears, but he is tracked to a bar. Daniels charges him with suspicion of murder and places him under arrest. At the courthouse, Samuel requests that the judge not release him on bail, fearing he may again kill another parishioner if he is let free. But the judge concedes to a bail request, which would allow Samuel to be released. Suddenly, and inexplicably, the courtroom is engulfed by a swarm of locusts, which Samule cries is a sign from God that he must not be set free.

Once Samuel is released, Reverend Hartley pressures Samuel to perform miracles at another church meeting. But as Mulder and Scully watch, the event again turns tragic when a Multiple Sclerosis sufferer lapses into a seizure and dies.

A preliminary autopsy suggests the woman, Margaret Hohman, died of cyanide poisoning. Mulder suspects that Samuel is innocent, and that someone else is poisoning the parishioners of Miracle Ministries. Mulder relays his conclusion to Sheriff Daniels, and soon afterward Samuel is found dead in his jail cell, victim of a savage beating.

The agents return to the courthouse where Samuel was arraigned and find evidence that someone dumped locusts into the ventilation system. They trace the insects-and a highly-poisonous cyanide-to Leonard Vance, an accident victim that Samuel brought back to life. Before Vance is arrested, he has a vision of Samuel returning from the dead to ask him why he poisoned the parishioners. Vance angrily reveals his burned flesh and scar tissue, admitting that he conspired to squash the parishioner's faith in its greatest healer. Vance ingests a lethal dose of pesticide before the agents arrive at his house. That same night, a morgue nurse witnesses Samuel walk out of the morgue. His body, upon investigation, is nowhere to be found. Daniels is later approached by Deputy Tyson, who reveals that the District Attorney is investigating his role in Samuel's death.