In 1968 we meet six teens confined at the Good Shepherd-a dark and secretive institution controlled by Sisters of Charity nuns - locked away merely for being gay, pregnant, or simply unruly. Mairin - free-spirited daughter of Irish immigrants, committed to keep her safe from her stepfather. Angela - denounced for her attraction to girls, sent to the nuns for reform, but instead found herself the victim of a predator. Helen - the daughter of intellectuals detained in Communist China, she saw her "temporary" stay at the Good Shepherd stretch into years. Odessa -caught up in a police dragnet over a racial incident, she found the physical and mental toughness to endure her sentence. Denise - sentenced for brawling in a foster home, she dared to dream of a better life. Janice - deeply insecure, she couldn't decide where her loyalty lay - except when it came to her friend Kay, who would never outgrow her childlike dependency. Sister Bernadette - rescued from a dreadful childhood, she owed her loyalty to the Sisters of Charity even as her conscience weighed on her.
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