At the start of the First World War, in the middle of Africa’s nowhere, a gin soaked riverboat captain is persuaded by a strong-willed missionary to go down river and face-off a German warship.

Edwin Porter, a Methodist minister, is sent to a little church in the small town of Sterling, Texas, to try to save it from financial insolvency. The move is sudden and is complicated by the fact that Porter’s wife and eight children are all very comfortable in the large, successful church they have been serving in Dallas.

In the dead of winter, a hard nosed church volunteer in small town Wisconsin clashes with a young bridal party during a last minute wedding.

A minister from the Deep South is assigned a new parish and moves with his wife to a town in Georgia's Blue Ridge Mountains, where he tends to the spiritual and emotional needs of his small flock.

When young John Wesley is miraculously saved from his family’s burning home, his mother is certain that God has a great purpose for the boy's life. John will later refer to himself as a “brand plucked from the burning.” As a man, Wesley tries to live out that special purpose on his own strength and good works, but it only brings frustration and failure. Finally, after years of struggle, Wesley embraces saving grace! But his new message is not welcome in the established churches. Will John break all the rules and take his message outside the church walls to the needy and outcast?

A fascinating compilation of scenes showing diversity and disparity in 1940s China. The ancient Forbidden City and Great Wall are followed by Shanghai’s metropolitan skyline; primitive farming methods are juxtaposed with mechanised factories; children in rags are contrasted with models wearing the latest fashions; Nationalist commanders and Communist leaders vie for support.