Academy Award winners Jimmy Stewart and Walter Huston star in this Civil War story of a stern preacher who forces a life of poverty upon his family so as to set an example to his parishioners and the son who rebels against their harsh life. Reverend Ethan Wilkins' (Huston) son (James Stewart) resents his impoverished life and yearns to become a doctor. Defying her husband, the boy's mother (Beulah Bondi) sells her dowry to pay for medical school. The young man travels to the East to study and while there neglects his family, only returning upon hearing news of his father's death.
