A friend of Chummy's, Reverend Applebee-Thornton, comes to stay at Nonnatus House and soon gets on everyone's nerves. Meanwhile, Jenny and Sister Evangelina deliver a baby with spina bifida, and Sister Bernadette plays matchmaker.

As Jenny takes compassionate leave after Alec's death and Sister Julienne collapses with exhaustion Shelagh returns to help out and efficient nurse Patsy Mount arrives. They start to plan for a party to mark the jubilee of Sister Evangelina taking holy orders but are interrupted by irate Mrs Harper, whose daughter Sally, a young woman with Downs Syndrome, is pregnant. The father, cerebral palsy sufferer Jacob, lives in the same residential home and they declare that they are in love and aim to marry but the baby is stillborn and Jacob is sent to another home. News of Evangelina's celebration attracts her brother Vincent, now an alcoholic tramp, and she steals food for him and sees him admitted to hospital, but her party goes ahead - despite her protests - and the community shows their appreciation of her work over the years.