is the story of Joe O'Connell and Martin Coughlin who meet in the Irish National Seminary at Maynooth. Joe comes to the seminary with an on-going love affair with Molly Barrett, a nurse in a large Dublin hospital, and Martin comes to it with a closeted love of Fr. Michael O'Shea, a parish priest in his native Kerry. In a story filled with forbidden love, ecclesiastical abuse and intrigue, and personal tragedies, the two become fast and particular friends. The troubles their various friendships bring upon them create the two suspenseful mysteries with which their story ends.