Set in rural Maryland in the 1930s, Dearly Beloved is the story of two Jesuit priests who want to heal the racially charged wounds of their parish. Father Kane and Father Cornish make effort upon effort to bridge the gap between their black and white parishioners, inviting a young Georgetown student named John Cosgrave to work with them. Through establishing cooperatives to bolster the struggling local fishing community and offering spiritual guidance to the morally impoverished region, these three men find themselves at odds with their community and with their own sins. As the story races towards a violent conclusion, the Catholic Church, through her faithful ministers, attempts to steer its members towards a peaceful reconciliation that may never come. Dearly Beloved asks hard questions about what it means to live together as the Body of Christ in a fallen, broken world constantly plagued by racial tension, economic poverty, and moral compromise.