Sam Atkins along with 18,000 other Confederate Soldiers wait at Durham Station, North Carolina, to see if they would once more have to fight the well-armed, well-rested Federals. Seeing no way to reach General Lee, General Johnson surrenders to General Sherman. After giving up their weapons Sam, and his friend Leander, start their long walk home to Lake City, Florida, through a devastated South. In a barn along the way the two friends meet up with an Alabamian whom, by a series of odd circumstances fought with the North. The three men decide to stay together for the night. Later Leander is cleaning his pistol when it accidentally goes off and mortally wounds the new man. Before the man dies Sam reluctantly promises to go see his parents and tell them what happened. Leander, totally distraught, runs off and Sam starts toward Alabama. On his way Sam encounters a fleeing President Davis, comes in contact with the Confederate gold and befriends a freed slave. This side trip will change his life forever.