Patsy and Shelagh are shocked when experienced mother Rhoda Mullocks gives birth to a baby girl with severely malformed arms – the result, though nobody realizes – of Rhoda taking the pain killer thalidomide and Dr Turner is baffled. Rhoda’s husband Bernie rejects the child as a monster, putting him at odds with his wife who wants to keep her, and Sister Mary Cynthia has to work hard to make him change his view. Meanwhile Trixie starts a keep fit class, where she discovers a problem encountered by elderly student Olive and Patsy is overjoyed when Delia comes to stay at the convent.