Grace Donahue flees her parents' unhappy home and enters a convent as a teen. There, she forms a strong attachment to another nun, who dies prematurely due to cancer. Embittered by the loss of her dear friend and the ruthless rules of the convent, she renounces religion in middle age and goes out into society. She meets Herb, a widower who becomes her husband, and his son Tim, a naï ve gay youth she nurtures and comes to adore. After she becomes a psychotherapist, and through the tumultuous decades of her life, her growing understanding of human behavior leads her to accept her own imperfections and those of the people around her. But she never fully forgives God, whom she thinks is cruel if he exists at all. Finding her own compassion, Grace lives an ultimately rewarding life despite her doubts about faith and humanity.