John Burrows, an ordained minister from a small village in the East, envisions himself with a larger congregation. He is mortified when his wife drunkenly interrupts a sermon, then despondent after her suicide. Burrows travels to Los Angeles for a fresh start, but takes to the bottle himself and ends up arrested for public intoxication. A skid-row con man, Gandy, finds him a bed at a flop house, while a street preacher, Doc Thorssen, and daughter Christine take him to a local mission. Christine is blind. She falls in love with Burrows, enjoying his discussions of the spirit and the soul but knowing little of his past. One day she is struck by a streetcar and knocked unconscious, causing Burrows to once again question his faith. He ultimately accepts the Lord's will and is offered a better place to live and preach. Burrows decides he is better suited to the mission, with Christine by his side.
Sterling Hayden
Viveca Lindfors
Thomas Mitchell
Ludwig Donath
H.B. Warner
Jane Darwell
John Berkes
Peggy Webber
Paul Guilfoyle
Charles Evans
Marion Martin
Everett Glass
Raymond Bond
Billie Bird
O. Z. Whitehead
Myron Healey
Byron Keith
Kathleen Mulqueen
Fritz Feld
Lorin Raker
Emmett Lynn
Paul Brinegar
David March
Bernard Gorcey
Lynn Whitney
Helen Huntington
Kate Drain Lawson
Fred Aldrich
Ed Hinton
Smoki Whitfield