Michael Maguire, a Korean War vet, enters the priesthood in an attempt to do some good in the world, after suffering in a POW camp for more than 2 years. But once the war in Vietnam breaks out, his clashes with the hierarchically-minded members of the church—which is evolving into a body with political ambitions of its own—sending him into rebellion not only against the diocese but the law. It's a sweeping tale not only of the divisions plaguing American Christianity - especially Catholicism - but of the difficulty of parsing, when pulled in so many directions, right and wrong.