David Howitt, a stranger, comes among the mountain folk of the Missouri hills and, taken in by an Ozark family, becomes known as The Shepherd because of his gentle and kindly ways. Years earlier, his son betrayed a mountaineer's daughter, and The Shepherd hopes to atone for his error. When a continued drought threatens the people with starvation and ruin, they lose faith in the "miracle man" and mock him, though he begs them to keep the faith.
