The Judge Steps Out

Thomas Bailey, a Boston probate judge, drifts through his duties and makes a cautious custody ruling that favors a conservative grandfather. The decision reveals his lack of ambition and a tendency toward prejudice. The opening mood sets up his dissatisfaction with his current life.

At home, Evelyn dominates the conversation and pressures Tom to pursue a Washington lobbyist role. Tom remains passive, allowing her to push him toward this opportunistic path. The friction foreshadows a break in their marriage.

Tom agrees to travel to Washington to assess the lobbying opportunity and whether it could salvage his career. He steps out of his comfortable life to explore something new. The trip marks the first major shift in the story’s trajectory.

On the train, Tom develops what seems like an ulcer and detours to a small town where a local doctor prescribes a break from work and family. The interruption becomes a chance to pause and reflect. The doctor’s advice pulls him away from his planned path.

Tom spends a temporary respite fishing, forgets to send a telegram to his wife, and returns home to overhear Evelyn disparaging him to her friends. He realizes his marriage is built on a fragile, silencing dynamic. Feeling unappreciated, he begins to question his own role in the family’s miscommunications.

After leaving quietly, Tom travels for weeks and ends up working as a short-order cook at a roadside cafe in California run by Peggy. The unglamorous job marks a stark contrast with his judges’ chair and begins a new life arc. He finds a sense of belonging and freedom here.

Tom and Peggy fall in love, and Peggy is trying to adopt a girl named Nan. Tom helps with the legal papers, but he discovers that the courts are prejudiced against Peggy because she is unmarried and has a man living with her. He confronts his own prejudices as he helps her fight for Nan’s future.

Tom realizes the miscarriage of justice in the Boston case and returns to confront it, seeking to correct the wrong decision he initially made. He succeeds in overturning the prejudice that sent Nan away. The case spurs his renewed commitment to fairness and the law.

While appealing the adoption and custody matter, Tom’s work earns him consideration from the appellate court, which offers him a seat on the bench. He weighs the newfound prestige against his dream of returning to Peggy and Nan. The moment tests his priorities and his sense of justice.

Tom declines the bench, deciding to return to California with Peggy and Nan. Meanwhile Evelyn has changed—she becomes more empathetic and less self-centered, signaling a potential shift in their marriage. The couple’s future seems more hopeful than before.

Evelyn’s change is solidified as Tom contemplats his next steps, recognizing that happiness may lie in combining his love of the law with a life that includes Peggy and Nan. The personal and professional identities he weighs begin to converge.

Tom arrives at the train station, ready to return to California, but a new resolve about his love for the law tempers his impulse to run away. The idea of choosing his vocation over escape becomes the turning point of his decision.

Unexpectedly, Peggy appears at the station and they share a brief, candid exchange about the happiness they have found—Nan with Peggy in California and Tom in Boston. Tom gives Peggy his ticket to California and they part with affection. He returns home, content with his chosen path and future.