Andac the narrator is the son of a Syrian and an Alan. Although he is a freeborn Roman citizen, he has always regarded himself as an outsider, and for this reason he feels that he is singularly equipped to tell the story of a young Roman matron who deliberately made herself an outsider by exiling herself from the arisrtocratic circle in which she was born. In spite of her fabulous wealth, Natalia is determined to emulate her famous grandmother, who lived for years as an ascetic in the harsh desert of the Holy Land. Natalia wants not only to dispose of all her wealth, but also to live in poverty, and to coerce her husband Valerian into a life of chastity. As the story develops, Andac and his friend Valerian see that Natalia's existence has become a life of desperation. For some unknown reason, she has convinced herself that she is worthless and one of the damned. She becomes more and more a fanatic as the years pass, struggling to follow the example of some of the extremists in Africa. At a later time, having moved to the Holy Land, Natalia becomes involved in the power struggle between the great patriarchs of the Eastern church. She has been in contact with Augustine of Hippo, Pelagius, Rufinus of Aquileia, Paulinus of Nola, Jerome, and the Patriarch of Alexandria. Andac survives both Natalia and Valerian. It is he who ultimately finds the cause of Natalia's desperation, and he does his best to tell her story in a way that will engender sympathy, while still preserving what he feels is her deserved reputation as a saint.