Salem opens with the exodus of the village's most eligible bachelor, John Alden (Shane West), for war, leaving his beloved Mary (Janet Montgomery) behind in the strict Puritan community. When he finally returns seven years later, he arrives to find Mary married to the town's merciless elder, George Sibley (Michael Mulheren), and Salem gripped by witchcraft hysteria, led by the duplicitous Cotton Mather (Seth Gabel). As accusations fly, powerful forces divert the public's attention from the true instigators and curse the lives of innocent bystanders. John and town outcast Isaac (Iddo Goldberg) search for answers to the mysterious happenings in and around the village, while Mary attempts to cloak her own involvement by casting aspersions on her neighbors.