Adam Smith is at a crisis point in his life. His wife Mary has died; it is the day of the funeral. Grief-stricken, Adam must now begin to pick up the pieces and search for a new role.
'You cannot separate body and spirit.. If the spirit is not my province, what in the name of God is?' Annie finds a young local girl, Margaret Carus, suffering an asthma attack and takes her home to the manse; Andrew Calvi, the local doctor, attends to her. But Adam also wants to help Margaret in his own way - a decision that leads him into a demarcation dispute with Dr. Calvi.
Having already clashed with Dr. Calvi over the plight of Margaret Carus, Adam turns detective to try to piece together her life story - starting with the local school. He is determined to find the cause of Margaret's illness, but Calvi asks him not to intervene in medical matters.
Adam is called in to help mend the marriage of David and Elizabeth Crichton. The call comes from an unlikely source: Dr. Andrew Calvi, usually the minister's harshest critic. The minister travels to Edinburgh to talk to David.
Following his attendance at a committee meeting Adam becomes involved in a protest against bad housing in Edinburgh. The complaint had been raised by Jamie Laidlaw and received little response, but Adam becomes passionately engaged in the battle.
David Crichton is in Edinburgh. Elizabeth has disappeared. Why, then, is there a light in the Crichtons' home at midnight? Adam goes to investigate, and finds a stranger in the house; he invites him to stay at the manse. Margaret Carus, meanwhile, starts her new job with Dr. Calvi.
Steven stays on at the manse and makes a sculpture for Margaret. When Annie arrives home in Lammerton unexpectedly, she not only brings the number of fugitives in Adam's care to three, but presents her father with a difficult question.
Trouble among Irish labourers leads Adam to press for better working conditions at a nearby construction site. The local Roman Catholic priest feels that the men need special evening services, and Adam tries to find a location. But is he being told the whole truth?
Adam tells Helen she must leave. A desperately unhappy Elizabeth returns; now almost an alcoholic, she has crashed her car. Adam expresses concern, and she promises to keep in touch. Later, David Crichton comes home to find the house upturned and Elizabeth unconscious.
Adam's persistence is rewarded when Elizabeth's family finally comes to him in the kirk to ask for help. Can Adam persuade Elizabeth, in all her bitterness, that life is really worth living? Meanwhile, John Ross, senior elder of the kirk, is confined to bed.
John Ross, Adam's oldest friend in Lammerton, is dying, and Adam must now find the strength to comfort him. But Ross, it seems, has strength enough for two. While applying for a job at Marygate, Adam meets Aitken, who has been asked to provide a man for South Africa.
Adam has decided to move on, and has to preach to the congregation at Marygate before they 'offer him the charge'. And the entire congregation turns out to see the new minister