It's 1965, and tough to stay conservative, even for a nun. When 28-year-old Sister Francesca leaves her small town convent in upstate New York to study theology at a large university in the Bronx, she expects to face demanding professors and challenging classes; she doesn't expect to become entangled in the controversies surrounding Vatican II. What she least expects is involvement in the mysterious death of her new Mother Superior. Was the old nun a victim of greedy neighborhood businessmen? Or was she simply in the way of unstoppable changes in the Church? As Sister Francesca investigates, she must come to terms with the changing world around her, a challenge to both her faith and her vows.