dovecot.conf usage

[Ernie Luzar]

Hello list;
Running dovecot2 in pop3 mode. The documentation seems to say that 
/usr/local/etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf is the first conf file and the place 
to place all over rides for options in the other conf.d directorys. 
Placeing "ssl_cert = </etc/ssl/dovecot.cert.pem" &  "ssl_key = 
</etc/ssl/dovecot.key.pem" generates a error when "service dovecot 
start" is issued. Error says can not find file  
/etc/ssl/certs/dovecot.pem and /etc/ssl/private/dovecot.pem. those are 
the options in conf.d/10-ssl.conf. Looks like my over rides did not take.

Is my reasoning incorrect or the over ride statements incorrect?

Thanks