Everything is changing in Rossmore. No longer a sleepy Irish town, where the young people leave to travel the world; nowadays it's a prosperous place, so busy that a new bypass has been proposed. The people of Rossmore are divided, particularly since the road will go right through the Whitethorn Woods and the well dedicated to St Ann - a well thought by some to have near-spiritual properties, and by others dismissed as a superstition. No one is more concerned than the honest and well-meaning curate Father Brian Flynn, who has no idea which faction to support. Surely Neddy Nolan's family should take the compensation being offered for their land? But wasn't Neddy's mother given a cure at the well many years ago? And what about the childless London woman who came to the Whitethorn Woods, begging the saint for help, with the most unexpected consequences? Lifelong friends who first met on an Israeli kibbutz visit the shrine to sort out their marriages; a wealthy American seeks advice; and a murderess and her mother have both considered consulting the saint...