Adam doesn't think much of it when Miriam faints in class. She's an oddball, a student who hardly talks, never makes eye contact, and wears clothes that seem straight out of the 19th century. She says she's fine, and he wants to believe her. But when she passes out while they're working on an English assignment, Adam takes Miriam to the last place she wants to go: the hospital. Miriam has bone cancer. She believes that God will heal her, but if He doesn't, she plans to let herself die.

Miriam is a member of a devout religious sect in which women have little power and medicine is strictly forbidden. In order for Miriam to forgo treatment, Adam's father sues the state on her behalf--even as Adam himself tries to convince her to accept the doctors' help. As her illness rages on, Miriam will teach Adam the meaning of love and faith--and he will give her a reason to live.