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Set in Leira, Portugal in the 1870s, follows the love affair of young Father Amaro with nubile Am elia, and their interactions with Am elia's mother, her atheist suitor, and her mother's lover, the priest Canon Dias.

Centers on a priest's seduction of a young and innocent girl, Amelia--a candid indictment of moral and social decadence, of a corrupt society ministered to by a smug and hypocritical clergyman--a moving story of human passion and human fallibility.