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Inherit the Wind

In the 1920s, in the town of Hillsboro, Tennessee, a female voice sings " Old-time Religion " as schoolteacher Bertram Cates is arrested for violating state law by conducting a lesson on Charles Darwin 's Descent of Man. The event makes headlines around the world. Matthew Brady, statesman, three-time presidential candidate, and Biblical scholar, volunteers to assist Prosecutor Tom Davenport.

A huge parade welcomes Brady, who asks Rev. Jeremiah Brown to stand beside him as he addresses the crowd. Witty and cynical E.K. Hornbeck of the Baltimore Herald, an influential newspaperman, seizes the opportunity to announce that Cates's defense attorney, provided by the newspaper, will be the equally well-known Henry Drummond, one of America's most controversial legal minds and a notorious agnostic.

Tourists flood the town. Welcoming Drummond, Hornbeck takes him on a tour of the circus Hillsboro has become. Meanwhile, in the courtroom, Judge Coffey deals with reporters, photographers, and local political interests. Later at the hotel, Brady, his wife Sarah, and Drummond reminisce, regretting the loss of the close friendship they once had. That night, Rev. Brown rallies the townspeople, calling down God's vengeance. When his daughter Rachel, who is engaged to Cates, protests, he condemns her. Admonishing Brown’s harshness, Brady quotes Proverbs 11:29: "He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind," sending the crowd home.

Breaching Rachel’s confidence to him and Sarah, Brady calls Rachel to the stand, compelling her to tell how Cates left the church when her father declared that a child who drowned was not worthy of heaven because he was not baptized. Overzealously, Brady browbeats a distressed Rachel; Cates instructs Drummond not to cross-examine her, even though her testimony of Cates’s doubts has damaged him with the jury.

Drummond intends six scientists as witnesses, but the prosecution successfully objects. Frustrated, Drummond gives an impassioned speech of the consequences of allowing an outdated law to prevail, turning progress backward. He asks to withdraw from the case. The judge orders him to show cause the next morning why he should not be held in contempt. John Stebbins, the father of the drowned boy, offers his farm as collateral for Drummond's bail.

That night, the crowds march with a burning effigy chanting that Cates should be hanged. When Drummond tells Hornbeck he needs a miracle, Hornbeck tosses him a Bible, scornfully exclaiming, "Here's a bagful!" Drummond clasps the Bible to his chest, smiling. In court, Drummond makes the unprecedented move of calling Brady—the opposing counsel —as an expert on the Bible, since he has been barred from presenting scientific experts. Brady welcomes this challenge, but he becomes increasingly flustered by Drummond's questions on Biblical inconsistencies and absurdities, such as the “seven days” of creation and Jonah surviving being swallowed by a whale. Brady admits to being unfamiliar with Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. Exposed for his lack of intellectual curiosity, a humiliated Brady is forced to admit that Biblical passages cannot be interpreted literally. He falls into Drummond’s trap to cast doubt on the Bible as the sole credible explanation for human existence.

WGN Radio is in court to announce the guilty verdict. Bowing to political pressure not to give a harsh punishment that would aggravate global opinion of Hillsboro backwardness, the judge fines Cates only $100, which Drummond says he will appeal. A disappointed Brady tries to enter a speech into the record, but Drummond successfully moves that the court be adjourned and the crowd begins to leave. As Brady attempts his speech, which few remain to hear, he collapses and dies. Alone in the courtroom, planning the obituary, Hornbeck asks Drummond what Brady said to Rev. Brown, to which Drummond cites Proverbs 11:29 chapter and verse. Hornbeck marvels at how Drummond can quote scripture yet call himself an agnostic. Drummond accuses Hornbeck of being a heartless cynic, a lonely man who will be buried alone. As he leaves, Hornbeck responds confidently that Drummond will be there. Drummond picks up the Bible and Darwin's book in either hand, balancing them as the voice from the beginning sings, " Mine eyes have seen the glory …". Drummond slams the books together, and he walks out with them under his arm.