In a gloomy and isolated Russian convent, Sister Yulia (Maria Vera Ratti), known among the other nuns for her love of beauty, becomes spontaneously pregnant while praying in front of a statue of the Blessed Virgin. She is bearing twin boys: One is the next Messiah, the other the Antichrist.

The Gospel account of Jesus’ temptation in the desert, read each year at the beginning of Lent, is a reminder that following the Lord’s footsteps “is a battle against the spirit of evil,” the Holy Father stated in his 21 February Sunday Angelus address.