Fairly completxly woven story of the inmates of a Maine orphanage, there Dr. Larch delivers babies and mothers. You get an orphan or an abortion. He raises one boy, Homer Wells, to be an obstetrician, even though the boy gets no medical degrees. Homer leaves with a couple his age and falls in love. He's gone for almost twenty years, dealing with his song and the people he loves, before finally returning to the orphanage to take over "the Lord's work". 
 Deals with who makes the rules (everyone for themselves) and breaking them.