Alma is the longest book in the Book of Mormon, covering several decades of Nephite history under the judges. Its early chapters follow Alma the Younger, son of the Alma who founded the church in Mosiah, from a rebellious youth struck down by a vision and dramatically converted to a leading prophet and, briefly, chief judge before he steps down to devote himself entirely to preaching. Alongside his ministry the book narrates extended military conflict, driven first by the dissenter Amlici and later by the Lamanite king Amalickiah, whose manipulations are opposed by the Nephite military leader Captain Moroni, a figure closely associated in the text with the title of liberty he raises to rally his people.
A separate strand follows the sons of Mosiah, who give up any claim to the throne to serve as missionaries among the Lamanites. Their most celebrated success is Ammon's service in the court of King Lamoni, which leads to Lamoni's conversion and, eventually, to a large-scale Lamanite conversion; the converts, later called the people of Ammon or Anti-Nephi-Lehies, bury their weapons and adopt a vow of nonviolence that plays directly into the wars narrated elsewhere in the book.
Nephite military organization in this stretch is described with unusual specificity, including armor, defensive earthworks and rotating garrisons, details later readers have used, without settling the matter either way, to argue for or against locating the narrative in a specific real world setting.