When the movie begins, Father Francis Chisholm (Peck) is an aging cleric who is about to be forced into retirement. Though he has apparently accomplished little during his career, flashbacks reveal his enormous impact on those who knew him. As a young man, Chisholm accepts the daunting challenge of running a mission in rural China. Indeed, when he arrives he finds he has no church and no congregation. But over the years his honesty, generosity and courage win the villagers' respect, and slowly his mission prospers. Co-starring Vincent Price as a church official prone to posturing, Edmund Gwenn as Chisholm's mentor, and Roddy McDowall (who plays Chisholm as a boy), The Keys Of The Kingdom was written by Joseph L. Mankiewicz ("All About Eve") and Nunnally Johnson ("The Grapes of Wrath")> It is the inspiring, moving story of one man's effort to serve God without any thought of personal gain or earthly reward.