An upper-class woman, recently widowed and with a long-lasting and deeply felt self-loathing, gets herself to a nunnery--or, rather, to an abbey, the storied Brede Abbey,where, as a nun by no means sure of herself or her vocation, she befriends two of her fellow Brides of Christ. One is a doubting young woman; the other a hate-consumed older nun. All three, perhaps, will come to learn of the power of healing love.