Four nuns--the narrator, Agatha, Mary Lucille, and Therese--buy new nylon stockings. That spring, they decide they want to buy new bees for a new nun, Harriet, to tend to. Most of their bees died off during the winter, and the ones who survived have become depressed. Harriet loves tending to the bees, and since she has seemed depressed (and some details suggest she suffered abuse in her life before joining the convent) and the nuns believe more bees will cheer her up. They use the parish computer to find an apiarist in Louisville, from whom they arrange to pick up new bees. As he hangs up the phone, they overhear an intimate moment and feel shame.

The nuns convince Father Lucas to lend them his van. He gives them strict instructions to pull of the road, call him, and wait if the van gives them any trouble. They leave Harriet to staff the hotline. She seems scared to be alone. The nuns drive to the apiary and are surprised when it looks forboding and rundown, not how they imagined an apiary would look. The apiarist makes comments about them being nuns: "I didn't expect the clergy," and, "It's not every day I get a visit from the brides of Christ." The interior is eerie, and the man is a bit spooky. The nuns grip one another's hands.

The apiarist props open a cardboard box and lowers a comb with bees into the box, saying it'll be about half an hour until three pounds of bees join them. The nuns meet his dog, Bennie, which seems unafraid of the bees and has huge balls, which the apiarist points out. He makes a comment about how the queen bees "don't like to be helped along" in laying eggs; rather, "they like it to be their idea," and asks the nuns to help him with something in his garage, which is filled with junk. In the garage, the apiarist says it "beats [him] why a bunch of pretty girls would be interested in the clergy," and the nuns grip each other's palms more tightly. He asks them for help closing his supposedly-stuck garage door and compares it to a stuck zipper.

The girls feed Bennie bits of graham cracker from their pockets and the apiarist gets angry and scrapes the cracker out of the dog's throat. The nuns flee the apiary, leaving the bees behind. They feel useful, and brave, and lucky, as if they have evaded danger. Then the car breaks down. They call Father Lucas twice and leave a message. They look at the engine themselves and find the serpentine belt snapped in half. They replace it with their nylon tights, tied together, and the car works again. Just then, Father Lucas calls. They decide "the greatest mercy you can grant a man is the chance to believe himself the hero," undo the tights, and pretend not to know what's wrong with the van when he arrives. They conclude "the greatest grace you can grant yourself is the private knowledge of your strength."

Two weeks later, Harriet would leave the convent for "somewhere familiar, but in no way safe." The bees would survive another season then die.