The Flying Nun

- Season 1

(1967)

Located atop a hill in old San Juan, Puerto Rico, the Convent San Tanco is populated by, among others, the stern and traditional Reverend Mother Superior Placido, straightforward Sister Jacqueline, English-challenged Sister Sixto who is always mixing her English slang around, young innocent novice Sister Ana, Sister Teresa and Sister Marguerita. The convent is an old, beautiful building but is showing its age and is need of major repairs - as is everything the sisters own - money for which the sisters do not have. Into their world enters Sister Bertrille, a new novice...

Sister Bertrille is getting better at flying and takes the occasional practice flight. During one of her flights, she is seen by Carlos Ramirez, who thinks he has seen a religious vision. Because of it, he gives up drinking, gambling and girls, while taking up meditating and going to mass. Carlos' current girlfriend, Dottie, is concerned and goes to Sister Bertrille for help, telling her the story. Although Sister Bertrille is as happy as any of the sisters to see agnostic Carlos going to church, she doesn't want him going on false pretenses, and tells and shows him ...

Even mechanically inclined Sister Bertrille can't fix their jalopy of a station wagon, which they need to transport the children to the Feast of St. Anthony Carnival that day. The sisters talk the Reverend Mother into letting them trade in the jalopy and buy another used car with the $800 they have on hand. Sister Bertrille turns to Money Back Hernando, the most notorious used car dealer in San Juan. They strike a deal for a station wagon for $800, plus the trade-in. The new car ends up being a lemon. But luckily, it breaks down next to where Carlos is picnicking with...

The bell at San Tanco is showing its age. Originally meant only to be temporary, the replacement bell sunk on the ship, the Hidalgo, off the coast of Puerto Rico when it was being shipped from Belgium 200 years prior. When Sister Bertrille can't fix the bell, she suggests looking for the wreck of the Hidalgo. She goes to the one person with the money and the boat to even attempt the location and salvage process: Carlos. Carlos agrees, but he really has other things on his mind. He is doing all of this in an attempt to woo his latest girlfriend, Binkie Worsley. He ...

As much as she loves Sister Bertrille, the Reverend Mother believes that the high winds of San Juan create an environment not suitable for Sister Bertrille. This is highlighted by the fact that Sister Bertrille flew through a new stained-glass window with her errant flying. So the Reverend Mother makes the difficult decision to transfer her to another convent, possibly in Rome. As exciting as that may be, Sister Bertrille is devastated about leaving, and openly shows that. Her frequent bouts of tears are due to this, but she attributes it to her allergy to hibiscus ...

On a flight, Sister Bertrille suddenly gets dizzy and has double vision, forcing a crash landing. After being checked out by Dr. Tapia, he discovers she has an ear infection that will clear up in a couple of days. He is more concerned about the condition of the Reverend Mother. She is a bit anxious about Sister Bertrille in general but more so now with Sister Bertrille's ailment. The doctor however attributes the Reverend Mother's anxiety to work stress and thus calls in Father Lundigan, the church's psychologist, to allay the Reverend Mother's anxiety. The Reverend ...

Exasperated with the sharp tongue of her talking parrot Junior his vocabulary learned in her saloon, Rose Dolan threatens to fricassee him unless Sisters Bertrille and Jacqueline take him off her hands. Seeing that the convent does not allow pets, the sisters need to find Junior a good home. Unable to do so, they clandestinely take Junior back to the convent. However, Junior's big mouth gives him away. They try and reform his language to convince the Reverend Mother to let him stay, but they fail in their task. As a last resort, Sister Bertrille tries Carlos, who does...

Bobbye Starr is trying to get away from her mobster boyfriend Al Caine, who she wants to get a legitimate job and ask her to marry him. In her getaway, she stows away in the convent's station wagon and isn't discovered by the sisters until they reach the convent. Sisters Bertrille and Jacqueline think that Bobbye's arrival is timely, as she mentioned her job was as a 'private secretary' and the Reverend Mother probably needs help while her regular secretary, Sister Ana, is off sick. However regular secretarial work is not Bobbye's strength in life. Despite her ...

Unable to raise enough money through donations, Sister Bertrille thinks they should go into business. With the donation of the raw materials, Sister Bertrille thinks they should produce what she calls the Nectar of San Tanco: sea grape juice. Out of faith, Carlos and one of his business associates, Luis Fiero, agree to exclusive distribution rights of the product without even knowing what it is. When Carlos finds out it's sea grape juice, he pulls out. The business is in trouble when the creditors come for payment and the sisters haven't sold a bottle's worth. Luis ...

Sister Bertrille rescues a pelican which is trying to fly but has an injury. She nurses the bird back to health, but the pelican seems content to say with Sister Bertrille.

The Reverend Mother is speaking at an educational seminar in St. Thomas, and has forgotten her notes. Sisters Bertrille and Jacqueline brainstorm about how to get the information to her. Sister Bertrille asks Carlos if he would fly his private plane to St. Thomas, but he refuses. So Sister Bertrille takes matters into her own hands and flies there herself. En route, she gets lost and the wind is dying so she's forced to make an emergency landing on a small island. On the island, Talc and his band of gangsters - Moon, Ben, Joe and Angie - are discussing business ...

Before the Reverend Mother goes off on a cruise vacation, she makes Sister Bertrille promise her that she will not not tell anyone else about her ability to fly. At the hospital pediatric wing, Sisters Bertrille and Jacqueline encounter Charlie Webster, a problem orphan who is self-absorbed and prone to telling tales. As such, he is a loner without friends and is hard for the authorities to find adoptive parents. Sister Bertrille thinks she can get through to Charlie, especially since they have the love of flying in common. Sister Bertrille does get through to Charlie...

Santa Thomasina is a small remote village in the hills overlooking San Juan. In reality, it is not one but two villages, since the inhabitants of both have been feuding for years as to which has the rightful claim to being 'the' Santa Thomasina. Sister Bertrille and Sister Jacqueline are caught within the feud when they are invited by one of the communities, but end up in the other. Manifestation of the feud includes stealing pigs and stealing the statue of Saint Thomasina, the matron saint of the villages. The residents of the one Santa Thomasina's sees Sister ...

Sister Bertrille, Sister Sixto and the kids are on their way to rendezvous with a friend of Carlos' for a day outing at his plantation. However the sisters get lost on their way. After a day picnicking at the spot which they stopped their journey, the gang are ready to head back to the convent. However their station wagon isn't being cooperative. So Sister Bertrille decides that she will fly to a pay telephone and call Carlos to come pick them up. But the stormy weather causes Sister Bertrille to be grounded as her cornette becomes sopping wet and limp. Now that it's ...

While out flying, Sister Bertrille loses the wind and lands near a mine. She gets trapped in the mine with an ex-convict.

Convent San Tanco's nuns draw names to provide Christmas presents for one another and Sister Bertrille draws Sister Olaf, an elderly nun from Scandanavia who's one wish is to see snow fall again before she dies. The young nun connives with the U.S. Weather Bureau to produce a snowstorm over the convent with disastrous results.

On the request of the Reverend Mother to bring someone in to organize the library, the bishop sends the only qualified librarian available on staff, accident-prone Brother Paul Bernardi. And the Reverend Mother assigns Sister Bertrille to assist Brother Paul in her hope that "two wrongs will make a right". Among the accidents caused by Brother Paul are the burning of the bookshelves by his magnifying glass and creating a hole in the library wall while pulling out a nail. With the latter however, he and Sister Bertrille discover some old parchments inside the wall, the...

Widower Luis Armejo and Manuela Garcia are getting married, and everyone in Esperanza, the town in which they live, are happy for them. Among the happy are Luis' son, Tonio. However the attention of his affection changes quickly to Sister Bertrille, who Tonio believes is his mother. He believes so because she came out of the sky - he infers from heaven - and Sister Bertrille really is the spitting image of Luis' first wife. Sister Bertrille, the understanding Manuela and Father Dominic - the town's sage - feel that they can't tell Tonio the truth because it would both...

Needing a fish for a special meal, Sisters Bertrille and Sixto go to Sister Sixto's Uncle Gus Mendoza, who she considers the most expert fisherman in San Juan. However Uncle Gus has been a little low on his fishing luck, and secretly grabs a fish for the sisters from Lily's Fish Shack, owned by Lily Romano. Apparently, Uncle Gus' luck is due to the the larger fishing companies, who have modern technology, such as sonar and helicopters, to locate schools of fish before someone like Gus can get to them. Gus has been financially supported by his family as well as Lily. ...

A hot spell is drifting through San Juan, and with it comes gangster Rufus Morgan, who has vowed to take over Carlos' casino. As a favor or repayment for some old air conditioners he donated to the convent, Carlos devises an arrangement, in paper only, with the convent through Sister Bertrille: he is deeding the casino to the convent while Morgan is in town, to be deeded back to him after Morgan leaves. In the meantime, Carlos goes into hiding. Although Carlos' assistant Pedro is running the casino in Carlos' absence, Morgan strong-arms Pedro into getting an official ...

Dr. Jennifer Ethrington, Sister Bertrille aka Elsie Ethrington's older sister, is coming by San Juan en route to Brazil where she is to work in the small remote villages. Sister Bertrille is worried that her sister may be bored by the rather sedate lifestyle of the convent during her stay. But her stay will be anything but sedate as she meets Carlos Ramirez on the flight into San Juan, Carlos who has become smitten with her. Although Jennifer mentions that she has a sister at the convent, Carlos doesn't know it's Sister Bertrille. And although Jennifer mentions to her...

Running into a craps game down at the docks, Sister Bertrille is renamed Sister Lucky by Juan, whose luck has changed for the better with the sister's arrival. The Reverend Mother however makes Sister Bertrille return Juan's donation since it was obtained through gambling as well as through the false pretense of Sister Bertrille being his lucky charm. He refuses to take the money back, so Sister Bertrille starts an impromptu craps game just to prove she isn't his lucky charm. Not only does she fail to do so - Juan's dice throwing is red hot - but she and the rest of ...

Sister Bertrille meets Captain Otis Barnaby while he's working on his small boat, which he plans to sail to Miami. Captain Barnaby is as stereotypical an old seafaring captain as one could imagine. However looks can be deceiving. The stories he tells the sisters and the kids at the convent of his seafaring days are all tales of fancy as Otis Barnaby is no captain and is as much of a landlubber as one can be having lived his entire life in Lincoln Nebraska. Conrad, his son, wants Sister Bertrille to persuade Otis not to make the dangerous voyage. Nothing will dissuade ...

Pedro Alvarez and Juan Cortez are business partners of a produce business, Juan the business oriented partner, Pedro the customer oriented partner. When Pedro reveals he is illiterate (he can't read a letter from his girlfriend in Miami, Ethel Tarnower), Sister Bertrille suggests that he learn to read and write. He takes her suggestion and shows up unannounced in her kindergarten class. Although she doesn't think her class the best venue, Sister Bertrille is buoyed by Pedro's eagerness. Others are not as easily swayed. The Reverend Mother is echoing the concerns of ...

Carlos Ramirez's adopted niece visits, but Carlos has to leave the island for a business trip. Sister Bertrille tells Linda she can stay at the convent.

In the will of a benefactor, the convent is the sole beneficiary of the estate. Unfortunately the only asset of the estate is the contract of a boxer, the Buffalo Buzzsaw aka Mike Sever. The sisters cannot keep Mike in any sense of the word, let alone let him stay at the convent, and Mike has no where else to go. So they let him stay temporarily in the gardener's quarters and work as the convent's odd job man. They learn that Mike is not a prize winning fighter, and has not had a bout in over two years. The sisters want to give him his freedom, but Mike likes it at ...

Carlos Ramirez is doing his mandatory 2-week active duty with the marine corps, and is stationed on a small remote island near San Juan. His battalion is scheduled to do large-scaled battle maneuvers, and Sister Bertrille is watching over him from afar, but Carlos doesn't initially need any help as he is coping just fine with a large stash of libations, gourmet food and female companions transported to the island via his yacht. His commanding officer, Captain Daniel J. "Do-or-Die" Dolger, finally catches up with Carlos' ant-military ways. The captain threatens to make...

Bridgett Faulkner and Joel Bascomb reluctantly accept their prizes donated by Carlos Ramirez as the top students at the convent, the award being a day out on the town and dinner at the Captains Table. For bookwormish, self-consciously Plain-Janish and headstrong Bridgett, it is a day of frivolity that she cannot afford to take as it will take away from study time. Joel follows Bridgett's every move, as he idolizes her. On the day out, Bridgett eventually falls under Carlos' spell, Carlos who was only trying to be nice. Bridgett changes her focus from her school work ...

Janus Zayukovsky, a.k.a. The Gypsy, is a reformed thief. However his dog, Raffles, isn't so reformed. Raffles snatches a purse and Janus pays the price by being hauled off the jail. While Janus is behind bars, Raffles is off to fend for himself. He comes across the sisters and the children on an outing, the sisters who take him back to the convent since he has bonded with loner child Jamie. They feel that Raffles can help Jamie get out of his shell, and the Reverend Mother agrees, temporarily lifting the no animal policy at the convent. But Raffles shows his true ...

Sister Bertrille crash lands on a remote and seemingly deserted island after the wind dies on one of her flights. Unfortunately her cornette lands in the water and is torn, and she is thus stranded at least until her cornette is repaired and is dried and starched. But she is not alone as she sees a footprint in the sand. Her island mate turns out to be Carlos Ramirez, who is also stranded on the island as his date, April Chance, pushed him off his yacht when he got too fresh with her and sailed off without him. So now it's a matter of survival for the pair. They ...