An unemployed construction worker heading out west stops at a remote farm in the desert to get water when his car overheats. The farm is being worked by a group of East European Catholic nuns, headed by the strict mother superior, who believes the man has been sent by God to build a much needed church in the desert.

In this belated sequel to 'Lilies of the Field' (1963), jack-of-all-trades Homer Smith revisits the chapel in the Arizona desert that he helped build for five German nuns under the supervision of Mother Maria, and he reluctantly helps them out of a pinch once more.