Minnie Barr's weight-loss empire is booming in Hamilton. She has but one thorn in her side: her overweight daughter Judy. In a poor church near the steel mills, a corpulent altar girl discovers that she loses a pound whenever she lights a dollar candle before a recently delivered statue. Women swarm the church. One of them is Judy. Within weeks, St. Roz is an international star. And as Judy celebrates her new figure, her mother's world, along with the rest of the forty billion dollar weight loss industry lies in tatters. Powerful forces decide that the statue must disappear. Two gentle forces decide to save her.

"Light a candle, lose a pound!"