In this haunting volume of three novella-length stories, Moore explores three characters, each drawn into a life of celibacy. The book features Mildred Lawson, the pretty but selfish woman who is plagued by the worry that her husband married her for money alone; John Norton, a would-be monk who finds his only passion in religious fanaticism; and Agnes Lahens, a timid woman who enters the convent as a means of self-protection.