 Elmer Gantry (Burt Lancaster) is a hard-drinking, fast-talking traveling salesman with a charismatic personality who infuses biblical passages and fervor into his pitches as a way to ease and collect money.He is drawn to the roadshow of Sister Sharon Falconer (Jean Simmons) and is immediately attracted to the saintly revivalist.As the troupe leaves town for Kansas, Gantry sweet talks her naive assistant, Sister Rachel (Patti Page), into telling him information regarding Falconer's past.