The Carhullan Army

England has suffered economic collapse. Life is oppressive and without hope. A woman (the narrator) joins a group of women who years earlier had formed a separatist community in the countryside. The women of Carhullan are dutiful and resolute.

This is not an exclusively lesbian community but males are not allowed to live there. In the early days women sought refuge here from abuse; and the leader, Jackie, is especially militant in her views about men. There is a small community of men nearby which some of the women occasionally visit. These men are ineffective and compliant.

Within the community of women there is a military unit, and late in the story the narrator joins this unit. The situation has changed in England and the lands and lifestyle of Carhullan are likely to be taken from the women. Jackie determines that the women must strike first and remove the Authority that threatens their freedom. The Carhullan Army will start the revolution that the urban dwellers, under the direct control of the Authority, are too subservient to bring about themselves.