New area deputy Jack Gales arrives on the island to find that a girl at the local Catholic girls school has been found dead. After investigating, he finds that students have been disappearing regularly for five years, about the time Mother Bernadette passed away. Gales and the Mother Superior’s secretary Cristina work together to try and unravel the mystery.

With their father away as a chaplain in the Civil War, Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy grow up with their mother in somewhat reduced circumstances. They are a close family who inevitably have their squabbles and tragedies. But the bond holds even when, later, male friends start to become a part of the household.