A woman leaves her husband after the death of her child to teach deaf children how to speak. Her own child was deaf and although she has no formal training she successfully teaches one boy.

In the early 20th century, a woman named Amy 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 Amy 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 Amy's affections.—Attmay