影片描写了地位低下的黑人青年霍默.史密斯,热心帮助一些逃难的东德修女,并答应为她们修建一座小礼拜堂……从而展示了他的人性美。本片触及全美最敏感的神经——黑人问题,一开始就显得不同反响。还有波蒂埃细腻的表演更引人注目,赢得36届奥斯卡最佳男主角奖,跻身于好莱坞超级影星的行列。Homer Smith, 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 Maria, who believes that Homer has been sent by God to build a much-needed church in the desert...