By The River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept is a story about a woman named Pilar and her journey to find herself. She is reunited with a childhood friend that has spent the last ten years traveling around the world, learning about different cultures, religions, and the representation of the feminine side of God in those different cultures. He tries to teach Pilar about what he has learned, and their time together is a manifestation of his attempt to get her to open her mind up to different possibilities. Pilar was raised to be a cautious Catholic, taught that she should not question authority, and needs to grow up to fit the perfect Spanish Catholic mold. She has many struggles throughout her life and has been hurt by people in the past. She has failed the societal rules and struggles to suppress her happiness to cut here and there in order to fit into the societal mold. Throughout the book, she eases up, then turns back in fear of the unknown and the uncomfortable, even though it is more uncomfortable to live in her current skin, than take a chance to find true happiness. When she finally eases up and opens her mind and her heart to God and the Virgin, or the feminine side of God, she is a transformed woman and is finally able to love and live the way she hopes to. The only problem is that her old friend, who has professed his love to her, and that she also loves, is still in seminary, and is a direct disciple of the Virgin. He must give up his direct communication with the Virgin, a virtuous gift that many people wished they had, in order to get another chance at being with Pilar. Pilar does not want him to give up this gift, but she wants to be with him. They find a way to be together, the best way they can figure out and the rest of the book explains just how important it is to believe in love and the virtue of the masculine and feminine side of God. Belief in the Immaculate Conception is the cornerstone to happiness. It is not enough to simply follow societal and religious rules, a person has to believe in them and want to be those things, or else they will never know spiritual happiness. Pilar's friend and a priest that has counseled her friend, help her discover who she is, and accept what she wants and how to get it.