A homeless little girl found at a cathedral is taken in and raised by adoptive guardians beneath its images and legends; steeped in hagiography and sacred art, she becomes a devout young woman whose imagination is shaped by medieval visions of chaste, fairy-tale romance. When a noble suitor appears, her dream of a saintly marriage seems within reach, and the story follows the tension between that visionary longing and harsh social realities. Themes of innocence, religious devotion, the power of art and ritual, and the collision of idealized love with everyday fate are explored throughout.