The convent of Santa Caterina, in sixteenth-century Ferrara, is more than a place for women with a religious vocation; it is a convenient repository for noblewomen whose families cannot afford to provide them with a dowry and a husband. When Seraphina, a 16-year-old girl from a noble family in Milan, arrives at the convent, her protests could not be more vehement. The abbess has been assured by her family that they consider Ferrara a better place for their daughter than Milan.

The reason for this belief soon emerges: a thwarted love affair with a singer whom Seraphina’s parents considered beneath her. But far from being subdued and distracted from her loss, from within the confines of the convent, Seraphina begins dreaming of rebellion and escape.