The Reverend John Smith, Vicar of Market Shapborough, has an unsettling encounter in Switzerland with a man who replaces the Vicar's clothes with his own and vanishes. Forced to complete his vacation without his clerical garb, Vicar Smith's outlook on his fellow man is greatly affected, such that when he returns and accepts a post as Canon at Frattenbury Cathedral, the conservative community is shocked by his attitudes and behavior.