When fragile young novice Agnes (Meg Tilly) secretly gives birth to a baby and is accused of murder after it is found strangled to death, court-appointed psychiatrist Dr Martha Livingston (Jane Fonda) is straight on the scene to investigate. Faced with a hostile and guarded Mother Superior (Anne Bancroft) who is reluctant to co-operate with her questions, excusing the birth and the murder as an inexplicable act of God, Dr Livingston has no easy task ahead of her...