this be a film that for most of it running time have no other player than the three adult lead and a child . the player have well be good for this one . fortunately they be and rachel and the stranger have a good quiet charm about it . the title role be play by loretta young . she be a year past her oscar win performance in the farmer daughter and really at the top of her game . rachel be a bondservant who be buy by widower william holden to help out at the family farm and bring back a feminine touch to the place and help raise his son and gary gray . rachel be buy for eighteen dollar and owe four by holden and but frontier propriety be what they be and holden have to marry her . but she no wife and she buy and pay for help and until holden friend robert mitchum show up and start look at her a a desirable woman . now holden start think along those line and the fun begin . holden and mitchum both do very well in typical role for both at the time . bill holden call this his smile jim period which end with sunset boulevard a year later . mitchum get to sing in rachel and the stranger and even cut a couple of record of the song he sing from the film . not bad for bob and among the many accomplishment of that complex and talented man be a a singer and songwriter . he do not do it often enough in movie . but the movie really turn on loretta young performance . she strike just the right note a the bondwoman who help make the whole lot of them a family again . the movie be also a good depiction of frontier ohio . an indian attack be part of the problem the quartet face and the shawnee be very active there until the battle of fall timber which take place in 1795. figure the action to be take place slightly before that . a nice entertaining film .