As a member of the strict religious sect of the Hasidic Jews of Satmar, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Deborah Feldman grew up adhering to a code of imposed customs that dictated everything in her life, from what she could wear and whom she could speak to, to what she was allowed to eat and read.

Trapped at seventeen in a sexually and emotionally dysfunctional marriage arranged by matchmakers, to a young man she knew little about, Deborah would experience the conflict between her desires and her responsibilities to her community.