Nasty Habits 1977

At the little-known and extremely wealthy Abbey of Philadelphia, the aging Abbess Sister Hildegard is slipping toward death, and her unspoken preference for a successor stirs quiet currents of ambition. She hopes to see her favorite, Sister Alexandra, take the helm, but she dies before she can make any endorsement public. The moment of decision falls to the political inner circle, and Alexandra’s path to power begins to emerge from the shadows of the cloister.

Alexandra quietly teams up with two trusted allies, Sister Gertrude and Sister Walburga, to marshal votes against their rival, Sister Felicity. Felicity is not merely a rival in the election but is also entangled in a public scandal, openly carrying on an affair with a Jesuit priest, Father Thomas. The tension inside the convent escalates as factions mobilize, each side spinning rumors and promises to sway the forthcoming vote.

To safeguard her ascent, Alexandra orders the installation of hidden microphones and cameras throughout the convent. She also hires a pair of Jesuit students, Gregory and Ambrose, to breach Felicity’s private space and seize letters that expose the affair. The break-in is detected, the risk of exposure grows, and the true meaning of the surveillance project remains deliberately obscured. Despite the breach, Alexandra wins the election by a landslide, securing the Abbess’s seat and the authority that comes with it.

Once in power, Alexandra wastes no time in delivering punishment to Felicity, expelling and excommunicating her. Felicity responds with a very public campaign aimed at unseating Alexandra, turning the abbey’s internal strife into a spectacle that draws wider attention. The situation attracts the scrutiny of the Holy See, which uncovers a disconcerting fact: the order is unofficial, lacking formal ties to the Roman Catholic Church. This revelation casts a shadow over the abbey’s legitimacy and intensifies the power struggle within and around the cloister.

Meanwhile, the scheme woven by Gregory and Ambrose backfires in unexpected ways. Their blackmailing of Gertrude and Walburga becomes a source of further trouble, and the two sisters respond with their own countermeasures. In a twist of misfortune, they enlist the bungling Sister Winifred, Sister Winifred, to pay off the would-be blackmailers—only for the entire scandal to spill into the public arena, threatening to unravel the fragile balance of power at the abbey.

Throughout these intertwining plots, the convent becomes a stage for ambition, loyalty, and the exposure that comes from secrets kept too long. The characters move with calculation and bravado, each maneuvering for position in a drama where faith, authority, and personal choice collide. The consequences ripple beyond the walls of the Abbey of Philadelphia, challenging perceptions of legitimacy, morality, and leadership within a setting that fuses reverence with human frailty.