Story about a prominent Chicago family and the scandal and betrayal that threaten to bring it down.

A young altar boy questions his impoverished family's hard-line Catholic beliefs in the face of his father's weapons-plant job, his mother's diagnosis with cancer, and a peer's struggles against the pressures of growing up too fast.

In a Carmelite monastery outside present-day Los Angeles, Sister John of the Cross experiences visions of such dazzling power and insight that she is considered a spiritual master. But they are accompanied by powerful headaches, and when a doctor reveals they may be dangerous, she faces a devastating choice since she fears a "cure" may end her spiritual gifts.