The central character is a working man, David Griffiths, known in the film as "Dafydd Rhys", a school caretaker for decades and a former miner. Dafydd's later years in Ammanford at Amman Valley Grammar School present an ordinary man with extraordinary virtues. His innate dignity is seen here as an inspiration to the film's narrator Ifor Morgan, who recalls in adulthood his experiences as a school pupil under David's wing. The actual David Griffiths never achieved the fame of his brother, the miners' leader and first Welsh secretary Jim Griffiths, but here represents a traditional Welsh proletarian "type", who communicates a strong sense of his community's worth and retains a fierce loyalty to the memory of his fellow pit men. The film's most poignant section deals with the impact on David of the death of his son, Gwilym, from tuberculosis, and the effect on Ifor and his fellow pupils of the caretaker's temporary estrangement from them as he retreats into himself and his memories. Dafydd is also shown leaving the Eisteddfod after his poem, an elegy to his dead son, has failed to win the coveted Chair. Amanwy did win several other chairs which can be found in church halls around South Wales.
