خلاصه داستان : داینس در دهه 1890، پدر آدولف دانز به آلست می‌رود، یک شهر نساجی که در آن کار کودکان زیاد است، حقوق و شرایط کار وحشتناک است، فقرا رای ندارند، و کلیسای کاتولیک از بورژوازی کوچک در سرکوب کارگران حمایت می‌کند. او چند ستون برای روزنامه کاتولیک می نویسد، و به زودی کارگران گوش می دهند...

In the 1890s, Father Adolf Daens goes to Aalst, a textile town where child labor is rife, pay and working conditions are horrible, the poor have no vote, and the Catholic church backs the petite bourgeoisie in oppressing workers. He writes a few columns for the Catholic paper, and soon workers are listening and the powerful are in an uproar. He's expelled from the Catholic party, so he starts the Christian Democrats and is elected to Parliament. After Rome disciplines him, he must choose between two callings, as priest and as champion of workers. In subplots, a courageous young woman falls in love with a socialist and survives a shop foreman's rape; children die; prelates play billiards.