Joseph Brigantine is a southern man who simply lives his life as time goes on. When his parents die, he takes over his family's farm and eventually starts a family of his own. Life goes on normally until his slave owning neighbor McGulluth has his plantation raided by abolitionists who attempt to free the men and women held in slavery. One of the slaves named Andre and his family escape via Joseph's farm and is assisted by Joseph in a very under dramatic yet effective escape. Then when the American Civil War begins, Joseph, being a southerner, joins the Confederate army. He fights through the war and in the end is reunited with Andre as the Confederacy falls apart. The war however took away Joseph's farm and Andre's job and so they both moved west in order to find a new life with new faces along the way. All seemed well until McGulluth kidnaps Andre's son and takes him away with a group of outlaws that he now leads after the war. Joseph finds the outlaw camp and with the help of the army, they manage to save Andre's son, however both McGulluth and Andre die in the process. Afterwards Joseph lives a peaceful life until he dies on his front porch as his story comes to an end.