1975. Christopher Reed, a young minister in his first job, receives much-needed seasoning, is necessarily dis-illusioned. How? On one level by having an affair with Becky, one of his teen-aged parishioners. But the affair begun on a theological dare so to speak, in order to test an intriguing vision of the freedom of the Gospel which Dr. Buttrick, the senior pastor under whom Reed works, a truly Christ-like man (though it depends, of course, on what your image of Jesus is) has presented. "Scrupulous," or guilt-stricken, Reed tells his wife Vinnie, an artist and a free thinker, what he has done with Becky. Vinnie erupts, then curiously adjusts, gradually accommodates herself, allows the affair to continue. Reed also tells Dr. Buttrick what he has done. Great- spirited, a wise old man, a genius, Dr. Buttrick listens and counsels. He counsels both Reed and Vinnie. The three of them discuss the limits of marriage, the relevance of Christianity to same. Vinnie and Dr. Buttrick have their own intense relationship. Meanwhile the meteoric Becky moves through her senior year in high school, fights free of her youth and prepares to leave for college. Obsessed almost, Reed suffers at the prospect of "losing" her. And grows in some ways as a person or at least as a pastor, learning to expect less of the flock which he supposedly leads, since it often acts less than nobly. Some members even turn on Dr. Buttrick, the genuinely good man, in the year of the novel's action.