Father O'Malley is the new priest at the Church of St. Dominic in a working-class New York City neighborhood. He fails to make a good first impression with crusty old Father Fitzgibbon, who doesn't approve of O'Malley's golf playing, baseball game attending, or fishing. But O'Malley starts spiffing up the church and its neighborhood: dealing with the church mortgage, which is in arrears, and straightening out the street gangs by getting the boys to help him start a choir. Romantic matches are made; neighborhood busybodies are appeased. Many songs are joyfully sung, and O'Malley even arranges a big surprise for Fitzgibbon, who's homesick for Ireland.