The Reverend John Meredith was chosen by the church council to become the new minister at the Presbyterian church in Glen St. Mary, Nova Scotia. He was a very stoic individual who was not especially warm or approachable. He was described as dreamy and remote. He would became obsessed his studies and so absorbed in his work that he wasn't aware of things that were occurring in his own household.
Four years before John came to Glen St. Mary, his wife, Cecilia, died. He had four children who ranged in age from six-years old to thirteen. The children were left to run wild as he had little supervision over them. He loved them - but he loved them from afar. He had withdrawn into himself after his wife died and found having a career and raising four rambunctious children was just too much to deal with. It was easier to read books about theology and German militarism.
When his younger son almost dies from one of the antics the children pull, he is finally shaken and knows that he has let his children down. He is in love with a woman who he thought had rejected him but one of his children is able to clear up a big misunderstanding and get the two back together again. Little six-year-old Una rushes to Rosemary's house and proposes to her. "Will you marry my father," she asks.
A visible change comes over John after he and Rosemary have plans to marry. The people in the community notice that John is no longer distant and dreamy and seems happy with the prospect of having a new wife and a new mother for his children.
