Dr. Eli Watt, a widower, comes to a small town, considering himself a failure in his attempt to have a meaningful career in New York. He raises his son Jimmy as well as Letty, a baby whose mother has died in childbirth and whose father blames Watt and abandons the child. Watt dreams of returning to do research studies, but always something gets in the way: an epidemic, his children's needs, or the needs of his generally ungrateful patients. Only with the passing years does he come to find that his future isn't over and his past isn't quite the failure he believed.
Lionel Barrymore
as Eli Watt
May Robson
as Sarah
Dorothy Jordan
as Letty McGinnis
Joel McCrea
as Jimmy Watt
Frances Dee
as Joan Stockton
David Landau
as McGinnis
Buster Phelps
as Jimmy Watt - Age 6
June Filmer
as May Radford
James Bush
as Bill Radford
Oscar Apfel
as John Radford
Samuel S. Hinds
as Dr. Babcock
Hale Hamilton
as Dr. Tillinghast
