The film is the idea of Lucifer being sentenced for his 'Sins' at the Gates of Peter and the difference between one's religious duty and one's moral duty and following God's true will blindly.
After being born in prison, Moll Flanders wends her way through the top and bottom of 18th-century English society, has five husbands and many male and female lovers, travels to America and back again, and in general discovers all that is cruel and sweet in life.