Passage to Zarahemla (2007) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

They run away after their mother dies and their father is already missing. With no other close family and facing the prospect of becoming wards of the state, Kerra decides they must flee. Brock, who has already had trouble with a local gang, helps her steal the social worker's vehicle so they can escape together to Utah.

Foreshadowing: The opening scene shows hunters pursuing what they think is dead game that suddenly comes back to life, foreshadowing the theme of things thought lost returning.

• Kerra
• Brock
• escape
• California
• social worker
• wards of state

Kiddoni is a Nephite messenger from the time of the Book of Mormon. Kerra believed he was an imaginary friend from her childhood, but he was real all along. After the earthquake opens the time rift, Kiddoni returns and reveals his true identity as a Nephite who can cross between the ancient past and modern world.

Foreshadowing: Kerra's cousins mention strange noises in the woods behind the house and her childhood imaginary friend 'Kid Donni', hinting that what she thought was imagination was actually real.

• Kiddoni
• Nephite
• Book of Mormon
• imaginary friend
• time rift

A powerful earthquake strikes near Aunt Corrine and Uncle Drew's property in Leeds, Utah. This seismic event shatters the barrier between past and present, creating a rift that allows ancient people and armies to cross into the modern world.

Foreshadowing: The earthquake is triggered precisely at the location where Kiddoni and the ancient world are waiting to break through.

• earthquake
• time rift
• Leeds Utah
• boundary between worlds

Brock is carrying a bag of drugs that a former gang member gave him to transport out of California. When the Gadianton soldiers cross into the present and search for food and supplies, they capture Brock along with his bag. The drugs become a dangerous complication that draws both the gang and the ancient army into conflict.

Foreshadowing: Earlier, the story establishes Brock's connection to a gang in California, explaining why he would be carrying illegal drugs.

• Brock
• Gadianton
• capture
• drugs
• bag
• California gang

Chris is Kerra and Brock's father who disappeared years earlier during a hunting trip. The family believed he was dead. However, he somehow became trapped in the ancient past and lived among the Nephite people until the time rift opened, allowing him to return to the present and reunite with his children near the Whitman home.

Foreshadowing: The mysterious absence of the father after a hunting trip mirrors the hunters in the opening scene who pursue something they think is dead but isn't.

• Chris
• father
• missing
• hunting trip
• Nephite
• family reunion

The Gadiantons were an antagonistic civilization in Book of Mormon history, in conflict with the Nephites. Their ancient rivalry carries over when both armies cross through the time rift into the present. They continue their centuries-old war on modern Utah soil, with the siblings caught in the middle of their battle.

Foreshadowing: The early mention of Kiddoni being a Nephite establishes the historical context for this ancient conflict.

• Nephites
• Gadiantons
• Book of Mormon
• battle
• ancient war

Another earthquake strikes the area near the Whitman home after the major battle between Nephites and Gadiantons. This seismic event restores the barrier between past and present, closing the time rift and driving the Nephite forces back to their own era. It effectively ends the ancient conflict in the modern world.

Foreshadowing: The first earthquake opened the rift; the pattern suggests a reciprocal seismic event would close it.

• final earthquake
• time rift closes
• Nephites return
• barrier restored

When the final earthquake restores the barrier between eras, Kiddoni is sent back to his own time in the ancient past. Kerra mourns not being able to say goodbye to her Nephite friend, as the rift closes before she can reach him. However, she finds solace in knowing her family is safe and reunited.

Foreshadowing: The emotional connection between Kerra and Kiddoni built throughout the story makes his departure meaningful rather than random.

• Kiddoni
• farewell
• rift closes
• goodbye
• Nephite friend

The car Kerra and Brock steal from the social worker breaks down during their journey to Leeds, Utah. This mechanical failure forces them to seek help from their aunt and uncle, whom they had planned to visit anyway. The breakdown is a plot device that gets them to stay at the family home where the time rift eventually opens.

Foreshadowing: The breakdown occurs in exactly the right place for the siblings to be present when the earthquake hits.

• stolen car
• breakdown
• Leeds Utah
• aunt uncle
• repairs

The opening scene shows hunters illegally pursuing an elk in the woods. The elk they think is dead suddenly comes back to life and escapes, an event that mirrors the film's themes of things thought lost returning (the father, Kiddoni, the ancient past). It also introduces the arrow weapon that will later be used by Nephites.

Foreshadowing: The elk coming back to life foreshadows multiple 'returns' in the story: the father returning, Kiddoni returning, and the ancient past returning through the rift.

• hunters
• elk
• opening scene
• arrows
• return to life

The arrival of Nephite and Gadianton armies creates chaos in the Leeds, Utah area. Modern-day characters including Brock, Chris, and eventually Kerra must navigate this crisis while also dealing with the California gang member who comes to reclaim the drug bag. The modern characters are caught between the ancient war and contemporary criminal threats.

Foreshadowing: The timeline establishes both the ancient armies crossing over and the gang member traveling to Utah as parallel dangers.

• modern characters
• chaos
• ancient armies
• California gang
• Leeds Utah