Synopsis

When four year old Mary’s parent’s die leaving her with no living relatives she is sent to a Catholic seminary where she is reared until becoming a nun herself.

As a teenager in the mid eighties she volunteers to work in the village library and for the first time she has access to public reading material and newspapers. She learns of the wider world, of rock and roll, the superficial glamour and fashion of the time and the start of the AIDS epidemic.

After much soul searching she becomes dispossessed with the fecklessness and ineptitude of the Roman Catholic Church. No longer able to contain her anger Mary attempts to express her criticisms in conversations with her fellow nuns and priests and is quickly and ruthlessly suppressed. After an argument with a visiting bishop she is sent to a half-way house to re-evaluate her faith.

Forced to take a part time job to earn money for the first time in her adult life, she applies for a job as a receptionist at a film production company, the owner of which, Sam, a lapsed Catholic, is intrigued by her story and taking pity, employs her.

A few days later Mary learns that the company is a soft-porn production studio. She is shocked but Sam persuades her to stay on. She befriends, Leticia, a glamorous actress at the studio and becomes aware of the power she has as a woman. At the same time she starts to have sensual dreams. She contacts a local reporter critical of the Church who tells her that sadly no one will be interested in hearing what she has to say as the Church will just say she is insane, dismissing her allegations as the ramblings of a failed nun in poor mental health.

Still an ardent believer in God, Mary questions the Church’s dubious stance on AIDS and homosexuality. After a night out with Leticia she has a dream where a voice tells her she must do whatever it takes to find a way of getting her message heard!” and she awakes feeling that she has experienced an epiphany. She asks Sam to let her appear in a film as a nun who wishes to lose her virginity for real. Wary at first as he has grown fond of her, he eventually relents seeing that the sensational nature of her actions will spark a media frenzy. The subsequent free publicity will sell millions and make him very rich so he agrees.

After filming, Mary confides to Fatima, her childhood friend from seminary, who is horrified and informs Mary’s former Mother Superior who calls her superiors immediately. Sam is approached by legal representatives of the church who realizing they cannot threaten him, pay a large undisclosed sum to buy the negative of the movie.
After learning that she has been excommunicated by the Church she loves and finding out about Sam’s deal, Mary feels betrayed and alone. She has been let down by her friends and the Church and she leaves the country dejected and saddened.

Twenty years later, Sam is on his deathbed dying of an AIDS related disease. He has a change of heart after the priest administering last rites refers to his homosexuality as sinful. He refuses the Last Rites and asks his partner to place his secret copy of the movie on the internet along with a full explanation.

It does indeed cause a global media storm. A reporter friend of Sam’s manages to track down Mary who now works for an international aid agency. She finally has the attention of the world's press and begins to tell her story for the first time.