Plot
In 1347 Garfagnana, Sister Fernanda returns to her convent with their donkey after missing Lauds. She curses out the friendly groundskeeper Lurco; Sister Ginevra, who shows sycophantic devotion to Fernanda, joins in. Sister Alessandra gets to meet with her father Ilario, impatiently asking when he will take her out of the convent so she can marry. Ilario says this will not happen, as despite being wealthy he cannot afford a dowry for her. The three nuns encounter Lurco outside, who smiles at Fernanda. When she and Ginevra shout at him again, Alessandra – in a foul mood after Fernanda antagonized her about her conversation – joins in even more abusively. Lurco leaves the convent because of this, stopping Father Tommasso to tell him as Tommasso is leaving to sell embroidery.
In Lunigiana, Lord Bruno is lecturing to his bored wife Francesca about the evil of Guelphs. Francesca takes servant boy Massetto to bed; Bruno goes to check on her, seeing Massetto leave through the window. In the servants' quarters, Bruno identifies Massetto by his fast heartbeat and, in the dark, shears off some of his hair to mark him. Come morning, all the men are missing hair and Bruno lets them go. He talks about Guelphs again at breakfast, prompting Francesca to seek out Massetto in the grounds. Bruno sees their interaction from the castle walls and Massetto is driven out by his guards.
Tommasso becomes drunk on his journey and loses the embroidery in a river. Massetto, crossing the river at the same time, offers to help him fix his crashed cart, and returns to the convent with him. The men get drunk on sacramental wine and Massetto confesses to his adultery; Tommasso offers him shelter and work at the convent as a gardener on the condition he pretend to be deaf-mute, in the hopes that if the nuns cannot rile him up they will leave him alone. In the courtyard, Massetto smiles at Alessandra, who returns the gesture; though Fernanda initially abuses him too, when Mother Marea informs the nuns he is deaf-mute, she tones down her behavior. Alessandra is implored to embroider at a faster rate due to Tommasso's losses, and in frustration damages her frame. She takes it to Massetto to repair, confiding in him; the other nuns watch her leave.
Marta, "an especially wayward nun" from elsewhere who knows Fernanda, sneaks in. She guides the three nuns to have a party in Alessandra's quarters; though Ginevra is wary of Marta, Alessandra has become nihilistic and pressures Ginevra to get drunk on sacramental wine. Marta tells the pair about the pleasure of sex with a man, then, after Alessandra has fallen asleep, makes out with Fernanda. When Fernanda takes Ginevra back to their quarters, they have sex. Having enjoyed Massetto's company, Alessandra visits him in the garden, where they begin to have sex until getting interrupted. Ginevra tries to talk to Fernanda about their relationship, but Fernanda dismisses it and then leaves to go to Marta in the woods. Ginevra watches from a distance as Fernanda and Marta prepare a fertility ritual using belladonna, then ambush Massetto and have a threesome.
Bishop Bartolomeo surprises the convent to check their sales accounts. Massetto sneaks into Alessandra's quarters to have sex with her, also interrupted. Ginevra, unhappy with Fernanda, tells Marea that Fernanda has been lying and then sneaks out to the woods, incorrectly taking Fernanda's potion and falling under belladonna's psychoactive effects. Alessandra is trying to talk to Massetto when Ginevra goes to accost him, and both nuns end up hiding together when Fernanda arrives to kidnap Massetto and take him to the woods where Marta's witch coven are planning to complete the fertility ritual. The pair follow them, and a hallucinating Ginevra interrupts the coven, causing Massetto to reveal he can hear and speak as he tries to escape. The four return to the convent, awakening Bartolomeo as they try to accuse each other, who then discovers Tommasso and Marea are having an affair. Bartolomeo judges their sins with a penitential and sends Tommasso away.
Massetto is returned to Bruno, who describes how he plans to torture him. Alessandra wants to free him and enlists help from Fernanda and Ginevra, who have bonded over embracing their carnal desires. They distract the guards using turtles with candles and break Massetto out, returning to the convent in two couples. Tommasso and Marea meet by a bridge.
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