A charismatic and enterprising ladies’ man, Elmer Gentry, unexpectedly discovers an orator’s gift. He gives up his long-standing dream of becoming a lawyer and decides to devote his life to the church, preaching the commonplace truths to his faithful congregation. The fact that the newly ordained priest himself possesses not even a fraction of the qualities he so stubbornly tries to instill in his followers in no way hinders Gentry’s rise through the ranks of the church, and after a few years he becomes the leader of a large Methodist church community.