In the early 20th century, a woman named Medford runs away from her unsatisfying marriage to a rich man and the memories of their dead son to work as a speech teacher at a rural school for deaf and blind children. While the school’s Matron, Malvina Dodd, questions her approach, eventually breaks through to several of the children, especially Henry Watkins, a deaf boy who . Meanwhile, as her husband Elliot looks for her, another man, Dr. Ben Cochran, bonds with the children and seeks ’s affections.