Bishop Blackie Ryan investigates rape and murder on an aircraft carrier, crewed by 5,000 men and 1,000 women "teeming with hormones." In the guise of a detective story, a penetrating analysis of the Navy's policy of mixing sexes and how it could work out.

Nuala Anne McGrail, a fey, Irish-speaking woman blessed with the gift of second sight, and her daughter have taken up karate to fight off schoolyard bullies who are harassing the family, while their incredibly shy nanny, Julie, is courted by a new fellow. Meanwhile Nuala Anne's husband, Dermot, pores over a memoir of a famine refugee whose family died of a mysterious fever, looking for clues to the cause of the illness.