In a Latin American country where the government has outlawed public religious displays, the last priest (Henry Fonda) in a village seeks refuge in a church, disguised as a peasant. Discovered by an Indian woman, Maria (Dolores del Río), the priest agrees to baptize her children and other poor people in the village. The priest's efforts to escape the military police are constantly upset by the desperate religious demands of the local people, and a beggar intent on turning him in.