The story revolves around four girls who are brought to the sisterhood asylum called the Magdalene Sisterhood asylum for their sinful deeds. Crispina (Eileen Walsh) and Rose (Dorothy Duffy) gave birth to premarital babies. Margaret (Anne-Marie Duff) was raped by her cousin and Bernadette (Nora-Jane Noone), an orphan, spent most of her lifetime flirting with boys. After entering the sisterhood, they are made to work in the laundry section and are literally tortured by the nuns to make them come out of their wills. The four girls are subjected to terrible punishments. Also, the girls who entered the sisterhood are made to work under harsh conditions. While some of the inmates in the sisterhood tried to device a plan to escape the tortures and ultimately the sisterhood, few of the girls become prey to the tortures rendered by the sisterhood.