The tale starts out with a historical reference to Chaucer. For a fraction you wonder if you are watching the film you expected. And then you see the Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger eagle that transitions us form mid-evil times to present day (1944) England.
Time is taken to give depth and background to all the main characters by the use of interactive dialog. We find that each brings different technical skills and interpretations of the road to Canterbury:
U.S. Army Sergt. Bob Johnson (U.S. Sergeant John Sweet) on his way to Canterbury mistakenly gets off in the hamlet of Kent. He is accused of having his stripes on upside down.
British Sgt. Peter Gibbs (Dennis Price) is temporarily stationed at Kent while staging for overseas. He was and theater organ player before the war.
Alison Smith (Sheila Sim) a London store clerk before the war is now seeking a job as a `Land Girl'. She seems to have an uncanny knowledge of Kent and the Pilgrims' road to Canterbury.
The night they got off the train at Kent they had a strange encounter with the mysterious "Glue Man". Then befriended by the local magistrate, Thomas Colpeper, JP (Thomas Colpeper, JP). Mr. Colpeper is interested in the history of the Pilgrims' Road from Kent to Canterbury.
Until you get pretty much through this story you are never really sure where they are trying to take you. Is the focus on a local mystery? The interaction of the players or the lives of the characters themselves?