Connie is a Mexican-American single mother who has been confined to a mental institution where she undergoes "mind-control" treatment and is subjected to an enforced hysterectomy. She is a woman on the edge of society who seems to have no escape from oppression. But Connie resolves to fight back.
The unfolding of Connie's story is interwoven with her visions of a future utopia where living is in village communities, children are conceived outside the womb to three parents and genetic modification enables men to suckle. Marge Piercy offers some interesting speculations on the future use of biotechnology to change women's lives.