Plot summary

Bess McNeill, a Scottish lass living in a small town in the highlands, is considered mentally simple. A devout Calvinist like most in her town, she often speaks to her version of God, who, channeling through her in return, often chastises her for what she considers her selfishness in always wanting more than she has. Despite the objections of the church elders, Bess marries Jan Nyman, a Dane, a North Sea oil rig worker and an atheist. Jan away working on the rig more often than he will be in Scotland with her, Bess does not handle his absence well, she, in one of those conversations with God, asking him to send Jan home sooner than the ten days she has to wait from the time of that conversation. Due to the circumstances of that visit home by Jan, Bess goes to extraordinary lengths to prove her devotion to God by also proving her complete love for Jan, she certain of the desired outcome in the end, which most people looking in would, and do, consider irrational.—Huggo