Deloris Wilson, a black woman, who chose the stage name Deloris Van Cartier is a Reno lounge singer. She also arranges the music for the girl trio and choreographs them. A showy, wisecracking woman with a love for music, she is also sly. Her current position is being held by Vince LaRocca, her husband (Harvey Keitel), who hired her to sing at his casino’s lounge. When she sees Vince killing an employee who had wronged her, she discovers that he is a gangster. Deloris is a witness to the crime and runs to Lieutenant Eddie Souther (Bill Nunn) who has been operating a long-running operation to gather enough evidence to place Vince behind bars. This murder could prove to be the literal nail in Vince’s coffin. Vince placed a clause in Deloris’ contract to stop her testifying against him. Eddie must hide Deloris until her trial which is expected to last at least two more months. Eddie decides to go to St. Katherine’s Convent, which is a convent and poor Catholic parish in San Francisco’s toughest neighborhood. Deloris reluctantly is accepted by the Mother Superior of St. Katherine’s (Dame Maggie Smith), despite her inability to look or act like any typical nun. The Mother Superior doesn’t reveal to any sisters Deloris’ real identity nor the reason she is at St. Katherine’s. The Mother Superior is known to cloister the sisters behind the walls of St. Katherine’s in order to pray for salvation of most of the neighbors while also keeping them safe from outside harms. This creates an ongoing clash of wills. Deloris (now Sister Mary Clarence) has an impact on Mary Patrick (Kathy Najimy), who is a perky, defiant woman and Mary Robert (Wendy Makkena), the sister who feels constantly left out of everything in her life. Deloris’s clash with the Mother Superior results in the Mother Superior limiting Deloris’s task at St. Katherine’s. This leads to both good and bad changes, and most importantly, it could lead Vince and his associates towards Deloris. These changes bring about a battle between Mother Superior and Deloris. Unless each of them can see the good in the situation in their lives at the convent, the conflict will continue. –Huggo