Fifteen-year-old Stella Temple lives with her parents, Alice and Cordell. As a loner and a bit of a social outcast, she has no friends, but she does love school. Alice is unwell and spends most days in bed, so Stella does the housework and cooking. Cordell used to take Alice away for treatment, and Stella would have to rely on the neighbors to feed her. Now, however, Cordell refuses to take Alice for treatment again because he says the treatments weren’t effective, and he can’t keep taking time off work. The narrative reveals that when Stella was 12 Cordell began regularly raping her at night. This went on for three years until she got pregnant, a condition for which Alice blames Stella. The day after Alice recognizes the signs of Stella’s pregnancy, she and Cordell take Stella to the doctor, who insists that the girl’s virtue mush be “restored.” Stella internalizes the blame that Alice and the doctor place on her, and Alice and Cordell give the doctor permission to make the call that will “fix” Stella. After a hasty goodbye with her parents, Stella is transported to the State Industrial Farm Colony. She thinks of the baby as a “tumor,” and she can’t wait to be rid of it. She hopes that she will never have to return home.

The next day, when Stella goes into surgery, she overhears a nurse telling the doctor that a “complete alteration is recommended” (21). After the procedure, she is put on bedrest for a week. Upon getting the all-clear from the doctor, she receives a brown uniform dress and meets Mrs. Baker, the superintendent of a place called the “Colony,” and Mrs. Maynard, her housemother. Stella learns that she is the youngest girl there. When Baker directs Stella to sit, the superintendent informs her that she must always respond, and Stella feels that she has already made a mistake by failing to respond to this initial command. Baker explains that Stella will receive a daily schedule, and this pleases the girl. Once again, she hopes that she will never have to go home.

Twenty-four-year-old Ruth Foster is walking to work when Sheriff Wright accosts her on the street. Ruth is immediately suspicious because she recently saw him approach two other young women in the same way; they became quite distressed before getting into his patrol car. Now, when Wright asks where Ruth is going, she says she’s on her way to work. He tells her that he has to get her “checked out” for the purposes of “public safety” (28). He says that he is “required” to make sure she will not make others “sick.” He suggests that she ought to have a husband, then observes that he has seen her going out with friends. She realizes that he is serious, and although she doesn’t want to go with him, she doesn’t want to get arrested. Ruth climbs into the backseat, and he drives to the offices of Dr. Marvin Tyndall at the “Hygiene and Public Health Services” (30). Inside the office, Ruth feels the nurse and receptionist scrutinizing her but is used to such attention, as she is very beautiful. The sheriff tells the women to call him if Ruth needs “transport” later.

In the examination room, Ruth submits to a rough pelvic exam, and when it’s finished, she sees a little blood on the tissue that she uses to clean up. The doctor tells her that she should be getting married and having babies rather than “running the streets” (33) and contracting syphilis. She begins to protest, saying that she has “never…” However, he cuts her off before she can finish her sentence and tells her that there are many ways to contract a venereal disease. The doctor says he has no choice but to send her for treatment; he claims to be protecting the public—especially servicemen. He says that if she refuses treatment, she will have to be quarantined with a sign on her door indicating her disease. Anxious to avoid the stigma, for both her sake and her mother’s, Ruth agrees to go.

The sheriff drives Ruth to the Colony, where she meets Baker and tries to address her concerns, but to no avail. When Ruth tries to walk away entirely, Baker assures her that the sheriff will bring her back and that her beginning in the Colony will be much less pleasant than it could be. Seeing several women working in a field nearby, Ruth asks what happens here, and Baker tells her that this is a place of transformations, character building, and education. Ruth insists that she does not need transformation or reform. When Ruth sees one woman make a gesture to her, she believes the woman is telling her to run, so she does.

Baker laments that Ruth is not more like Stella, as it would make her job easier. She gets on the intercom and assembles the staff. The sheriff is called. Drs. Greene and Graham are irritated by the interruption. When the sheriff brings Ruth back in handcuffs, he threatens her with jail if she runs again. Baker issues a cryptic instruction to Nurse Crawford—“Seven, and limited” (44), then leads Ruth into the building. Baker opens a door to a dank, windowless basement room with one lightbulb overhead. The nurse brings a stack of sheets, a blanket, and a brown uniform dress. Baker encourages Ruth to use this time for reflection and meditation, but she refuses to say how long Ruth will have to remain here. As Baker and Nurse Crawford leave, Baker reflects that Stella has already become a model resident, despite being a “fallen woman.” However, she is unsure how Ruth will fare.

Ruth finds the little room hellish, and the food nauseates her. She has been told only that a “Wassermann” test says she’s infected. The next day, when she asks for more breakfast, her request is refused because she is on “limited” status. On the eighth morning, her breakfast consists of eggs, sausage, and a buttered biscuit. When Baker arrives, Ruth is so desperate to leave the room that she agrees to everything Baker says. As she follows the superintendent outside, she asks questions about the Colony and learns of the Chamberlain-Kahn Act and the American Plan to “protect society [from] fallen women, those with loose or no morals and with diseases [that] must be kept away from military bases, not to mention the rest of the population” (52). During Ruth’s second week at the Colony, she is in quarantine, but it’s much better than the solitary confinement of “Meditation.” Dr. Graham is similar to Dr. Tyndall, and he gives her an injection to treat her infection. He says she must rest for the next 24 hours and warns that she might feel unwell; however, he assures her that this means the medication is working.

A few days later, Ruth asks Nurse Crawford what the shots contain. The nurse says the first shot is Neosalvarsan, and the second is mercury. When Ruth says she has never done anything to catch syphilis, the nurse says it can be transmitted via kissing. Ruth admits that she has kissed a man, but nothing more than that. The nurse asks her about any sores, rashes, fevers, or muscle aches; Ruth says she’s rarely ill. Crawford says it is possible to have syphilis and not know. Ruth asks if there are reform programs like this for infected men, and Crawford says there are no men’s facilities. She assures Ruth that she will recover in 18-24 months.

Ruth asks Baker for materials to write to her mother, then writes a detailed letter explaining how the sheriff picked her up and describing the medical exam, her transport to the Colony, and her subsequent ordeals. Crawford informs her that all outgoing mail is read by staff first, and any complaints about the facility will require rewriting. Ruth tears up the first letter and writes a new one saying where she is. The note also states that she has been told she is “sick” and that she is being treated. Ruth knows that her mother will feel ashamed, and she does too.

Stella is assigned to a bed in a dormitory, and Mrs. Maynard gives her a stack of supplies and tells her about her new duties. Stella is happy to be busy so she doesn’t have to think about Cordell. Mrs. Maynard plans to have her begin work in the laundry; first, though, is lunch. Five women sit down at her table, and two of them—Lucy Griffin and Josephine Littles— introduce themselves. The food is good, and Stella is impressed. When a fight breaks out in the line, Lucy says the women involved will end up in Meditation. She warns Stella that this punishment is to be avoided. After lunch, Lucy and Stella go to the laundry, and Lucy tells Stella about her life as a sex worker. Lucy teaches Stella what to do in the laundry, but Stella is uncomfortable with Lucy’s critical assertion that Baker doesn’t really care about the girls. Lucy appreciates Stella’s innocence, though Stella thinks of herself as “ruined.” That night, supper is as good as lunch, and then residents get some free time.

The next morning, Baker asks Stella if she has read the Colony handbook yet; Stella has it memorized, and Baker says they might find a special role for Stella. At breakfast, Stella sees Ruth for the first time and thinks that beautiful Ruth doesn’t fit in at the Colony. Afterward, Stella goes to the laundry, feeling lucky that she is not receiving the shots that some women are getting. She is soothed by the act of washing dirty objects to get them clean, and she wishes that she could do the same to herself. During her free time that night, she sees a woman whom the others call “Freaky Frances”; the girl is odd, very tall, and has a lazy eye. When Stella asks another resident why the girl is called “Freaky Frances,” the woman tells her to wait and see.

Baker takes every other weekend off, and this weekend, she is brooding about Ruth. She harbors a grudge against Ruth’s “type.” She then recalls her husband losing interest in her on their wedding night, when he saw her scarred legs. Her father had paid off Ed’s gambling debts in exchange for Ed’s agreeing to marry her. The day she walked in on Ed sleeping with his “floozy” is burned into her memory. Baker thinks that Ruth is the type to steal husbands. Baker also reflects on Stella and is bothered by the fact that her high intelligence and excellent memory do not align with the recommendation that she be sterilized, as that procedure is usually reserved for “imbeciles, morons, and degenerates” (74). Baker comforts herself by reflecting that if Stella ever does return home, she won’t get pregnant again.

On Monday, Baker calls Stella to her office. Out her window, she sees the groundskeeper, Mr. Lumley, lighting a controlled burn to clear the stubble and weeds from the perimeter of the field. Baker is furious because these kinds of activities are not to be undertaken in front of the residents. When Stella arrives, Baker asks Stella to pay attention to the women who are breaking the rules or complaining; she wants Stella to report back to her. When Baker senses Stella’s reluctance, she promises that the girl will be rewarded. Afterward, Baker goes outside to address Lumley. She explains that she doesn’t want to make the work easier for the residents, which is what he did with the fire. The hard work wears them down, and she wants them compliant.