At a time when there is very little entertainment except for an occasional barn dance or a shopping trip to Pontotoc or Toccopola, the Baptist Church is the big show, and the Reverend James Robert Williams is the star. After a successful spring revival in 1914 in which sixty-four souls are brought into the fold, the handsome silver-tongued preacher falls from grace into the open arms of the lovely Elvira. The preacher finds himself faced with two choices: duty, honor, and respectability on the one hand, and on the other, Simon-pure love blended and harmonized with the steamy passion of carnal lust. The constable, Little Joe, who pursues the couple, was actually the author's grandfather.