Young Gabriella Harrison knows nothing but pain at the hands of her monstrously abusive mother until her father abandons the family, and Gabbie is sent to be raised in a convent. There Gabbie learns about love from the sisters, and even decides to join the order herself--but her plans are short-lived. Gabbie falls in love with a priest who commits suicide rather than live in the secular world, and Gabbie is expelled into the streets of New York. As Gabbie attempts to create a place for herself in the outside world, she learns a great deal about life, herself, and the past that haunts her.
