[3] The plot centers around Han, a farmer who is battered by war, destruction, poverty, and hardship, yet refuses to accept the healing power of faith.
But as he sees the effect of church teachings on his wife, his children, and his neighbors, and even benefits personally from Christian doctrine, he begins to accept Christ into his life.
While his wife still insists on giving thanks to God before they eat their meager meals on the side of the road, Han wants nothing to do with religion; he feels it is "foolishness".
Grimly, Han and his older son toil in the fields every day while his wife and younger children work on restoring the house.
[4] One day Han's young son finds an unexploded cartridge in their yard and playfully hammers it into the ground.
In the final scene, when his wife serves the meal and pauses to thank God for their food, Han also bends his head in prayer.
[3] The film's release coincided with the launch of a year-long study program on Christian missionary work in China by Protestant churches.
[5] In an ironic coda, a few months later Mao Zedong established his communist regime and expelled American missionaries from China.
[4] Lindvall and Quicke described the film as "extremely well photographed" and said that it "effectively portrayed Christian witness in China with an economy of dialogue and detail".
[4] The Akron Beacon Journal, which devoted a two-page pictorial spread to the release, said the film "packs more of a punch than many a Hollywood double feature".