- Act I
The play opens with the creation story from the Book of Genesis. Eve (Jen Roberdeau) is drawn to the tree of knowledge, even though Father (Scott Rathgaber) has warned her to stay away. Father attempts to distract Adam (Skylar Erickson) and Eve by playing a game where Adam and Eve name all the animals. With his children distracted for the time being, everything is right with the newly-created world. Eve, however, still hungers for something more than what she has. She meets a snake (Aidan Smerud) that tempts her with the fruit from the forbidden tree. Eve eats the fruit, meaning that she must be banished from the Garden of Eden.
In a twist from the Genesis tale, Adam is portrayed as torn between two choices: either he can stay with Father in Eden, or he can eat the fruit and be banished with Eve. He chooses to stay with Eve, even though it means leaving the garden forever. Adam and Eve are driven out into the surrounding wilderness and have two children, Cain (Killian Harnish, Matt Haupert) and Abel (Kieran Harnish, Thomas Gittens). Eve realizes that the same fire that led to her eating the fruit is present in her son, Cain. Cain tells Abel of the problems that Adam and Eve made for them by leaving the garden and says that he intends to find the lost garden.
Adam and Eve find some pleasure in the fact that they have been able to create a life for themselves outside of Eden, but this peacefulness is again shattered when Cain says that he has found a ring of stones, proof that they are not the only humans alive; Adam admits that he had seen the ring of stones and the people who live there before but that he had never mentioned it because he was afraid of the potential consequences. This leads to a fight between Adam and Cain, but when Abel intervenes, he is killed, as Cain attempts to kill Adam but hits Abel instead. Father decrees that Cain's descendants will always bear a mark for the sin of their ancestor.
Act I closes with Eve about to die. She delivers a monologue
about Cain's departure from the family and the birth of another
son,
Seth (Aaron White), who has since had children of his own. She then prays that
her children and her grandchildren will regain the garden that
was lost.
- Act II
The act opens with "Generations," a list of the many descendants of Cain and Seth, all the way down to Noah (Skylar Erickson) and his family, whose story comprises the second act’s plot. Father tells Noah that a storm is coming, so Noah must build a boat.
Noah has three sons, and two of them, Shem (Aaron White) and Ham (Thomas Gittens), have wives, but his youngest son, Japheth (Matt Haupert), is unhappy with the wives Noah has tried to obtain for him. Instead, he wishes to marry the servant-girl, Yonah (Katie Fries), a descendant of the race of Cain, and Japheth tells this to his surprised family; however, Noah will not allow Yonah on the ark. All the animals return so that they can board the ark. Japheth comes to say goodbye to Yonah. She says that she has always faced the problem of being shunned because she bears the mark of Cain. Japheth decides to sneak Yonah onto the ark.
The rain comes, and it keeps raining and raining. Yonah releases a dove to find dry land. The rest of the family discovers Yonah, and Shem and Ham wish to throw her overboard, but Japheth intervenes. It escalates into a fight, and it is only because Yonah intervenes that one of the brothers is not killed. Noah is unsure as to what he must do. His wife asks him if Father speaks to him anymore, and when Noah answers "No," she tells him, "You must be the father now." Noah has to decide what should be done without God telling him what to do. Noah calls the family together. He decides to give Japheth and Yonah his blessing. Then the dove returns and the family again sees the light of the stars. Father gives humanity the power to control its fate. The family sings of the problems they will face and their desire to return someday to the Garden of Eden.