Charles Fraser, a businessman, goes back to a house in the Hebrides that he owns with his sister, Janet, but he discovers that she has let it out without his knowledge to a group of lay sisters so they may run it as a charity institution for religious women who have fallen on hard times. Sister Margaret was formerly in prison with Janet; a new arrival, Candice, is on probation; and Sister Alice is a kleptomaniac. Charles tries to have them turned out, but an accident forces him to stay, and he becomes attracted to the younger Sister Fiona. However, he is still determined to go to the police. But when he finally gets away, he is arrested for some money he had misappropriated.