Weavers in the nineteenth-century Scottish village of Thrums, enraged by a reduction in prices for their products, revolt against the manufacturers in the town square, prompting soldiers from nearby Tilliedrum to seize the ringleaders and throw them in jail. When Gavin Dishart arrives in Thrums as the new minister of the Auld Licht Church, the retiring minister, Mr. Carfrae, explains the labor situation: Local weavers are devoutly religious, but live on the edge of starvation. At night, they keep watch on the roads into town, and if a sentry sees soldiers returning, he will blow a horn. If that happens, the minister must hurry to the square and calm everybody. Later, during his Sunday sermon, Gavin is interrupted by the presence of a large, drunken weaver named Rob Dow, who was brought to church as a joke by atheist Jo Cruickshanks. The minister berates the worker, ordering him to sit on the altar stair in front of the congregation and listen to the word of God. Rob Dow complies, and is converted to the Lord’s message. However, several nights later, on 17 October, the city constable comes to the manse just outside the town limits where Gavin lives with his mother, Margaret, and asks him to hurry to Dow’s house before he loses control. Gavin calms the large man, who has been drinking at his loom, by praying with him, and Dow promises never to let alcohol master him again. When Gavin leaves, he heads home by way of a path called Windyghoul. Passing the camp of the Lindsays, a gypsy family, he comes upon a beautiful young woman singing unholy music, but as he rebukes her, Gavin hears a horn blowing and turns to run to the town square. There, he finds fifty weavers armed with pikes and staves, including his congregants Rob Dow and Thomas Whamond, and tries to lead them in peaceful prayer. When Babbie, the gypsy girl he met in the woods, steps out of the crowd and identifies herself as the person who blew the horn, she spurs the crowd into fighting the soldiers. Overcome by the woman’s beauty, Gavin lacks conviction as he commands the workers to lay down their weapons. Soldiers arrive at the square from different directions, forcing townspeople to withdraw into their homes. Under the command of Captain Halliwell, soldiers smash down doors and drag weavers into the street, but the leaders, having been warned, are gone. Aware that Babbie sounded the warning, the captain orders that she be brought to him, but once in his office, she douses the light and escapes. Seeing Gavin Dishart walking back to his manse on the hill, Babbie runs up behind him in the dark and grabs his arm just before he reaches the spot where soldiers have set up a guard post. Gavin is surprised into silence by her elegant voice to the sergeant, and the soldiers let them pass. When they reach the manse, she turns to walk back down the hill and give herself up, but Gavin offers her the option of spending the night, hiding in his garden. In the morning, Gavin finds Babbie gone, but his Bible and Captain Halliwell’s coat lay on a garden bench. That Sunday, standing in the pulpit, Gavin prepares to preach, but as he opens his Bible, he sees a penciled message on the page: “I will never tell that you allowed me to be called Mrs. Dishart before witnesses. But is not this a Scottish marriage!—Signed, Babbie, the Egyptian.” Months later, Gavin accompanies Dr. McQueen to the hut of old Nanny Webster, who was arrested on the night of 17 October and is now indigent because she is not a member of the Auld Licht Church. They are to take Nanny to the poorhouse, but Babbie appears and promises to deliver five pounds to settle her debts the following day at the Kaims of Cushie. Over the doctor’s objection, Gavin agrees to meet her. Dr. McQueen leaves, but Gavin remains to draw water for tea and spend time with Babbie and Nanny. Nearby, Rob Dow, believing himself an instrument of God, watches the young witch Babbie weave her spell over the little minister who saved him, and decides to remove her from his sacred path. The next day, when Gavin meets the gypsy in Kaims, she gives him, as promised, five pounds for Nanny and a bunch of berries from her hair for him. The following day, when Gavin visits Nanny’s hut, Babbie is there, and Gavin is again overcome by his love for her. She insists that the only man she could love must be brave and take the side of the weak against the strong. Gavin answers, “I am that man,” and after staring at each other for a few moments, the two part in opposite directions. The following night, Babbie comes to Gavin’s manse, and they kiss outside, but she hurries away, warning that if the people of Thrums see them together, there will be an uproar. The next morning, outside of town, Babbie comes upon Micah Dow, a crying boy who explains that his father, Rob Dow, has been driven back to drink by a gypsy woman, because her presence threatens his beloved minister. Realizing she is a threat to Gavin, Babbie sends Micah home and leaves Thrums. Gavin searches in vain for her, and reverts to the stern demeanor of an Auld Licht minister. Months later, in summer, he learns that Babbie has returned to the area and was seen at Nanny’s hut. Despite being on his way to church, he detours to Nanny’s and finds Babbie praying. He ignores the tolling of the church bell to listen to her confession. Babbie explains that, as an infant, she was lost from her gypsy family’s caravan when she slipped out of a hammock beneath a wagon. Local magistrate Lord Rintoul found her on the road and brought her up as his ward, but now he wants to marry her. Her only hope of escape is to marry Gavin. They leave Nanny’s hut just as Lord Rintoul comes looking for her, but Rob Dow, lingering nearby, follows. Meanwhile, the elders of the Auld Licht Church lock the door and march to the manse to relieve Gavin Dishart of his duties. That night, as Gavin and Babbie are married in a gypsy rite at the Lindsay camp, Lord Rintoul and the church elders, alerted by Rob Dow, arrive. Rain begins to pour, and lightning flashes. As Gavin announces his marriage to the others, Rob Dow clamps a hand over Babbie’s mouth and carries her away. Reasoning that witches fear only fire and water, he carries her to Nanny’s well and prepares to drown her, but an overhead tree limb, struck by lightning, falls on Rob Dow and pins him down, allowing Babbie to escape. Searching for her just before dawn, Gavin sees that the raging river has swept Lord Ritoul’s cart off a bridge into a misty gorge, and despite calls from nearby weavers to let him die, Gavin jumps into the mist to save him. As more weavers and church elders gather, Gavin’s voice comes up from the fog, claiming his and Lord Ritoul’s feet are slipping and they have only moments to live. He bequeaths his Bible to Rob Dow, tells the elders to officiate the weekly prayer meeting, and quotes Matthew XIV, verse twenty-eight, in which Jesus reaches down to save his sinking disciple, Peter, and says to him, “O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” At that point, Rob Dow jumps into the mist to save them, but is swept away to his death. When the fog lifts, the villagers see that the minister and Lord Ritoul are safe, praying together. The elders consent to the marriage of Gavin and Babbie, now recognized as Lady Babbie, and they wed in a formal ceremony.