Female socialisation and identity is being examined from a very unusual perspective: Six former nuns tell the stories of their lives: trying to come to terms with both their decision to take orders and, after having spent years in the convent, to leave religious life again.

They returned to the secular world for various reasons, but each of them had a certain aim to pursue, and they all have entered professional life.

The film shows them at work and at home, in New York, Massachusetts, Texas and Maryland. They talk about religion, sex-roles, work, and about institutional supports and burdens, probing the ideals and realities of modem America.