Father Gregory Lind, Robert Forster, is a Catholic priest who feels trapped by his vocation. He longs to move to another parish, but his transfers are repeatedly refused, leaving him stuck in a life that weighs on him daily. The story begins at a local hospital, where he arrives after learning that one of his former charges is dying following a desperate attempt to steal a car. There, he meets Pamela Gibson, Lauren Hutton, a widowed and wealthy social worker from the Community Center. Together they decide to dig deeper into the teenage death, hoping to understand the forces that shaped it and perhaps avert further tragedy.
Their investigation leads them to Estella Rios, Kathy Baca, a young girl who is pregnant and underage. The two adults do not agree on how to handle Estella’s precarious situation, and their disagreements reveal a clash between moral duty and personal concern. Later, Lind learns from Mrs. Rios, Miriam Martínez, that Pamela may have taken Estella to obtain an abortion, a revelation that strains their relationship even more. The tension crescendos when Estella is hospitalized and miscarries, an event that heightens the emotional stakes for both Lind and Pamela. The turmoil culminates in a moment of vulnerability: Pamela breaks down, and Lind, in a bid to comfort her, crosses a line and they begin a sexual encounter after he brings her home.
Seeking to forget the consequences and sort out his tangled feelings for Pamela and his calling, Lind withdraws for a time but is drawn back to her, and they embark on a romantic weekend in the mountains. In an attempt to gain clarity on his future, Lind returns to his family for support, but his mother, Edith Atwater, rejects his plan to leave the priesthood and explicitly forbids him from stepping away from the life he’s known. This rejection fuels his sense of anger and betrayal, prompting him to take a vacation and work at a hospital in Santa Fe.
Back in the picture are the external pressures that threaten his relationship with Pamela: a priest from his parish confronts her, trying to force her to back away from Lind and accusing her of jeopardizing his future. Pamela resists this pressure and confronts Lind again, insisting that he must choose between love and the priesthood. After spending more time at his Albuquerque parish and meeting with the Bishop, Will Geer, Lind discovers that the Church cannot grant him the exit he seeks. Ultimately, he makes a decisive choice: he steps away from the priesthood and seeks a life with Pamela, and the two of them begin to build a future together, guided by the sense that love and personal truth can coexist with moral duty.
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