In a seemingly ordinary street, the livos of ordinary people are forever changed by the arrival of Maud Phelan and her mother Kitty. Physically disabled Sheila McGann and her mother Eileen are immediately captivated by these exotic creatures who live across the road from them in a camper van. As time goes by the ties that bind the four women strengthen until their lives melt into one symbiotic existence. Maud and Kitty experience the lust, passion and illicit affairs, while Sheila and Eileen vicariously enjoy the adventure from the safety of the sidelines, until adventure turns inevitably to tragedy. Set in Ireland in the 1970's The Cloths of Heaven is Sheila's recollection of the parallel existence she and her mother shared with Maud and Kitty. Sheila attempts to unravel the mystery surrounding the past and finds her loyalties torn between being true to Maud or true to the parish priest, Michael Daly, who has been sucked into Maud's fantasies.