An affair between a young woman and a pastor has disastrous consequences.

Pearl: [voiceover] Who is to say what is a sin in God's eyes.
Hester Prynne: I wonder if existance as a woman is worthwhile at all.
Pearl: My father died before I reached my teens. Some say that was a punishment. My mother never remarried or loved another. Some say THAT was a punishment.
Hester Prynne: [in labor] Are you sure God's not punishing me?
Harriet Hibbons: To be sure he's punishing you, woman. He be giving you a child.
Hester Prynne: [the elder is about to pin the A on her blousse] Why do you wait? Put it on, for it is not a badge of my sin but your own.
Dr. Roger Prynne: Has this new land turned thee into a heathen?
[to the crowd gathered for Hester's hanging]
Reverand Arthur Dimmesdale: In God's eyes, I am her husband.
Brewster Stonehall: So... you fucked a minister, eh? Oh, what my father would pay for THAT priceless morsel!
Hester Prynne: I have dreamed of speaking my heart, I have prayed for it even as I have dreaded it. Was I alive before I laid eyes on thee?