Sean O'Carolon has retired as an Irish tenor to a village where an old love of his, Mary, resides with her children, Eileen and Tad.

A once-famous opera singer, Sean has given up his career to live in his old Irish village, near Mary, who had been forced to marry someone else "for money, not love".

Mary, now abandoned and with two children, struggles in poverty, and lives in the home of a horrid relation.

He decides to cut short his tour and return to Ireland to support Mary's children, and Eileen's marriage to her true love.

The director, Frank Borzage, was the Academy Award winner for direction in 1927 (Seventh Heaven).