The movie is about a Civil War deserter named W. P. Inman. He has deserted the Confederate Army – he does not to fight the war anymore and they would not let him go, so he left and has not come back. In the Civil War, the Confederacy wanted to break away from the United States, but the Union would not let them, so they fought for whether the Confederacy (also called the South) should be allowed to break away or not. Before he left, he fell in love with a woman named Ada and now he wants to be back with her.