Drama-documentary about a Methodist mission founded in 1816 in Colombo, which helps young tea-plantation workers to learn new skills.

Reel One.

Scenes of a tea plantation. Women picking and sorting leaves, men weighing the leaves on traditional scales. The tea worker Raman is visited at home by a Tamil Methodist minister. Family prayers. Raman learns of opportunities in Colombo and takes the bus to the capital. Stopping en route he listens to a preacher in a street 'gospel van'. He arrives in Colombo bewildered by the contrasts between the old and the new. There is a cinema next door to a Hindu temple.

Reel Two.

Raman finds the Pettah Methodist Mission and examines a plaque celebrating Dr Thomas Coke, founder of Pettah, the first Methodist church in Asia, in 1816. Inside the church, Raman stumbles into a women's sewing class, taught by a lady missionary. He is directed to 'The Rest', a nearby shelter for 'down and outs'. The evangelist recommends Raman for training and he learns type-setting from a skilled older man, shown wearing a comb in his hair to denote his venerable status. Raman also observes other trades being taught (eg carpentry), and plays in mission football matches. The film ends with Raman bringing his family to Colombo and thanking the church for helping him.