Since Joanna was small, she has had the desire to become a Nun. Her best friend cannot believe it, her boyfriend is devastated and her mother feels it's just a phase. The only encouragement she gets is from the family's religious housekeeper, Consuela. When she finally gets to the convent, the liberalism of a politically active Novice Sister, a bunch of women with border-line mental illness, including a psychotic Mother Superior, an alcoholic football fan in charge of the vineyard, an over-pious floor mopper, that makes her wonder if she's following the right path after all but as she gets to know the Sisters and the enormous community bond they all share and the spiritual love that connects them she starts to see glimpses of her own spiritual fulfillment. Several weeks into her vocation she discovers something in herself which brings a whole new series of secrets out into the open until eventually the bond she has with the other Sisters dictates and assists in her destiny.