Reverend Michael Hill (Edward Herrmann) and his two children arrive in a mid-sized city as the new minister at North Avenue Presbyterian Church. The secretary/music director for the church, Anne (Susan Clark), is wary of the changes Hill intends to implement. Hill wants to get people involved, and asks Mrs. Rose Rafferty (Patsy Kelly, in her final movie role) to handle the church's sinking fund. Anne discovers the operation, even as Hill defends the Irregulars as keeping the gangsters off balance. Anne resigns from the secretary position, and soon after, the gangsters bomb the church.