It is 1964, shortly after the shock to the country of the Kennedy assassination. Principal Sister Aloysius is concerned about the potentially inappropriate actions of Father Flynn with a middle school black student, and decides to enlist the assistance of a younger teacher, Sister James, to look out for anything suspicious. John Patrick Shanley, who won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize and Tony for this play, challenges his audience to question everything, and raises more issues than he answers: Is Father Flynn innocent or guilty? What is the nature of doubt or of certainty? And are new, modern ways of looking at religion always better, or is there something to be said for tradition?