Catholic-schooled seventh-graders Sophie, Margaret, Rebecca, and Leigh Ann help an elderly neighbor solve a puzzle her father left for her estranged daughter twenty years ago.

"The haunting, vivid story of a nun whose past returns to her in unexpected ways, while she investigates a mysterious death and a series of harrowing abuse claims. A young nun is sent by the Vatican to explore allegations of misconduct at a Catholic school in Iceland. During her time there, on a gray winter's day, a student at the school witnesses the school's headmaster, Father August Frans, fall to his death from the church tower. Two decades later,...

Alaskans Luke, Chickie, Sonny, Donna, and Amiq relate their experiences in the early 1960s when they are forced to attend a Catholic boarding school where, despite different tribal affiliations, they come to find a sort of family and home.