When a new vicar arrives in a small village, she is not what was expected. In the first place, she is a she. Not only that, she is very young, very pretty, and Irish. The previous vicar had left in a hurry and Annie O'Donnell soon begins to understand why. Fresh from Cambridge, where she thrived on the intellectual stimulation, Annie, who grew up in Belfast, finds village life a culture shock. She has a missionary's heart and thinks she would be happy suffering in a tent in the heat of Africa, but surely not in an English village with swirls of difficult people. Dealing with the idiosyncrasies and politics of a small, ingrown church is challenging enough, but a handsome, young widower to whom she's attracted complicates her life. And, when a young woman who has psychological problems needs a home, the large vicarage where Annie lives by herself seems the perfect shelter. However, she resists Annie's efforts to befriend her and keeps disappearing. A fellow student from Cambridge, who is moving up fast in theological circles, begins to pursue Annie, providing her with the kind of environment she is accustomed to. He is a curate in the Anglican church, brilliantly intellectual, and surely the perfect partner for her, sent from God. Meanwhile, the widower, Matthew has distanced himself. Tension is created by the two men in Annie's life along with Julie, the girl she is trying to help, who has some dark secrets she is unwilling to share. The sociological problems of a small church in a small town, plus the psychological problems of the young woman Annie tries to help, add depth and conflict to the plot.