It is late winter in central Europe, far from the fighting in the Holy Land. Two monks find an orphaned female child near starvation and rescue her. For lack of an alternative, they and their five monastic brothers become her surrogate parents. When it becomes evident that the child is exceptionally intelligent, each of the seven teaches her his specialty, thus providing her with a most unusual education. This develops into a paradoxical situation in which the most brilliant member of the community is one who, by all odds, should have remained illiterate and inconsequential. The story is set during the Crusades with frequent reminders of events unfolding in the larger world.