During the American Civil War, Jake Roedel (Toby Maguire Tobey Maguire) was the son of a German in the south. Unlike his father who supported the north, he supported the south. He and his friend Jack Bull Chiles (Skeeter Ulrich Skeet Ulrich) joined the guerrilla army in the south. They also get to know George Clyde and George's former black slave Daniel Holt (played by Jeffrey White Jeffrey Wright). All four worked under John Black's forces. When stationed on the mountain, the village widow Sue Lee Shelley (Pearl Jewel Kilcher) and Jack Bull fall in love. In the later war, Jack is killed, while Jake has a conflict with a man in the army named Pitt (Jonathan Les Meyers Jonathan Rhys Meyers). Pitt even shot and wounded Jake and Ho....