Crippled as a young girl, Sabine vows to become a nun if cured. But when it turns out the original diagnosis was faulty and she regains the use of her legs, she decides to marry instead. Wreaked with guild when her first child is stillborn, Sabine enters a monastery where her sister Gertrude also resides. But after her sister dies of an illness, Sabine leaves the nuns behind and travels to India seeking peace.
