After giving a fiery Sunday morning sermon, Harlem pastor Margaret Alexander is confronted by the unexpected arrival of her long-estranged husband Luke, who collapses from illness shortly thereafter. Luke tells their son David and several elders of the congregation that he had not abandoned his family years ago; it was in fact Margaret who had left Luke to pursue a religious life. Margaret, Luke, David and the congregation clash over the perceived hypocritical nature of Margaret's religious convictions and the breakup of her family.
After an important conversation with his dying father, David tells Margaret he is leaving home to pursue his calling as a jazz musician. On his deathbed, Luke tells Margaret he has always loved her, and she should not have left him. Margaret’s congregation decides to oust her, believing she unjustly ruined her own family in the name of religion. After losing her son, her husband, and her congregation, Margaret realizes she should not have used religion as an excuse to escape life's struggles, declaring, ‘‘To love the Lord is to love all His children—all of them, every one!—and suffer with them and rejoice with them and never count the cost!’’