Just when he's beginning to take his perfect life and marriage for granted, John discovers that he's the result of a failed government experiment to spawn a race of perfect assassins. But the closer he gets to finding out what went wrong, the weirder the truth becomes.

In this belated sequel to 'Lilies of the Field' (1963), jack-of-all-trades Homer Smith revisits the chapel in the Arizona desert that he helped build for five German nuns under the supervision of Mother Maria, and he reluctantly helps them out of a pinch once more.

Abigail Harper comes to Salt Lake and is called to be president of the newly organized Retrenchment Society.