Chapters are written from the POV of one character but in the 3rd person, mostly that person's thoughts. Marie Curvin is the German wife of a US soldier, Beau Curvin, an abusive sociopath. They are counseled by Chaplain Charles Hardwick whose wife, Ellie, a repressed woman rebelling against her husband's idea of perfection, has learned Charles' aide, John Evans is secretly an atheist. John met Marie at a Gasthaus where she waitresses. She was then seven months pregnant and had just recovered from a brutal beating by her husband. John had received a "dear John" letter from his love. He had written an answer to her which Marie retrieved after he discarded it and left the Gasthaus. She wanted a love like his. 5 mo. later he returned with 2 friends to plan their leave, she flirted with him, and started an affair. She fell for John, but had told him nothing about herself out of fear that Beau might chance to hear it. She told John her name was Marlene. In Chapter 1 Ellie comes home from touring with girlfriends and finds a note for Charles revealing Johnny's atheism. She is expecting Charles soon and knows John is coming home with him for dinner. Charles wants to explain his latest ideas on God's commandments to John. Knowing Charles will be upset, she hides the note, will handle the matter herself. In chapter 2 Marie Curvin is picked up at the Gasthaus that night by John. But when she leaves the Gasthaus 2 cars are waiting, John's and another. After John drops her off, she is met by Beau's best friend, Otis. The other car was his, and he saw John drive her to the forest and spend time there. He has the plate number of John's VW, and threatens to tell Beau and give him the license number unless she has sex with him. She hurls a German insult and goes in and finds that her baby sitter, Beau's 18 year old sister, Grace has heard their voices. Marie said Otis came to the Gasthaus to give her a ride because it was raining, and he tried to force her to kiss him. Grace may likes Otis, wants him for herself. She finds a flaw in Marie's story and believes it was a lovers quarrel, that Marie is having an affair with Otis, thinks telling Beau that Otis has an eye on Marie will lead Beau to scare Otis and make him available to her. Meanwhile, tense and fearful that Otis will tell Beau what he knows, Marie has a spat with John. Days later, Beau's is found dead in the forest some hundreds of yards from the Gasthaus. In the days before the murder, Ellie meets with and confronts John Evans. She had her uterus removed 14 mo. before, and Charles vowed celibacy in their marriage, for they no longer can be fruitful and multiply, believe carnal pleasure is a sin. Unlike Charles, John understands her and agrees to try to change Charles' mind about sex and adoption, and he and Ellie meet when Charles is away overnight to plan the best approach, and John spends the night with her. Early the next morning John with 2 friends leave on a !5 day trip to Italy Roger Mott, the army's detective sifts the evidence while John is away and it points to John or Marie or both. John is arrested and Marie placed under house arrest. Ellie knows John was in her bed at the time of the murder, and with dread, Ellie gives John's alibi to Mott, hoping to keep it from Charles. But Mott doesn't believe her and lets Charles discover his wife's infidelity. Charles thinks his aide is a demon and God has ordered him killed, and he manages to seize John and has him hanging by his ankles and taped like a mummy in his basement where he has prepared a grave. He must get his razor to finish John, but is interrupted by Grace with news for Ellie that John has escaped his guards. Grace manages to seduce Charles, and distraught, Charles castrates himself. Ellie finds him near death and reopens the wound and lets him die. Then calls for help. Her crime is unnoticed, and John is saved. Marie solves the murder of Beau, and Mott takes credit. Marie and John reunite, and Ellie is forgotten.
