Though the men in the village accept the Convent as a supplier of food, especially hot peppers, they also blame it for various issues they believe are plaguing Ruby's culture. Despite this, the Convent acts as a refuge for numerous women who have been hurt by societal pressures and male dominance. Since the day Mavis arrived at the Convent—walking because her Cadillac ran out of fuel—the building has become home to a diverse group of women. One woman even leaves briefly, only to return after a little over a month. Mavis, originally from Maryland, was responsible for the tragic suffocation of her infant children in a parked car. She fled to Oklahoma, where she found solace in Consolata's detached hospitality, allowing her to sustain the illusion that her children are still alive. The Convent also offers her an escape from facing her husband and surviving children, against whom her guilt has spawned paranoid fantasies that they are plotting to kill her.

Grace, who suffered sexual abuse as a child, openly flaunts her sexuality and engages in a two-year affair with K. D., much to the dismay of Ruby's conservative elders. Seneca, abandoned as a child and mistreated in foster care, later experienced abuse in a relationship with the convict Eddie and was exploited by a wealthy white woman. She secretly practices self-mutilation, a behavior she developed after being raped by her foster brother. The youngest, Pallas, was doubly betrayed when her beautiful, artistic mother began a sexual relationship with the janitor-sculptor with whom Pallas had run away. She battles anorexia and is pregnant with his child.