导演萨姆·伍德采取倒叙手法，交代拉丁文老师奇普斯从青年时代进入英国布鲁菲学校作画教，一直到六十年后他从该校退休的整个教学生涯，期间经历年轻时的认真木纳，中年时的婚姻幸福与丧妻之痛，乃至晚年的慈蔼宽容，将一个坚守岗位努力教学的好老师从平凡中见伟大的精神发挥得淋漓尽致。
Plot Summary:Arthur Chipping is an academic teaching at Brookfield Boys School outside of London in the 1920's. Although he does what he considers best for his students, they don't much like him, nicknaming him "Ditchy", short for "dull as ditch water". His life changes when he meets Katherine Bridges, a music hall actress and a woman with a questionable past. She affectionately calls him Mr. Chips. Despite their differences, they fall in love. He in particular realizes that in striking a relationship, they will have many obstacles to overcome. He doesn't particularly like the world in which she is involved, including her friends and her profession, and she doesn't exactly fit the mold of a teacher's wife. Still, they decide to get married. She forgoes her career to be Mrs. Chips, living on campus as the housewife of a teacher at a proper boy's school. It is a world in which she will have to learn the rules, or at least bend them to her sensibilities, although she vows never to embarrass him. Katherine's arrival at Brookfield may change Chips' standing at the school. Further changes ensue for the Chips' and Brookfield with the onset of World War II.
