In the spring of 1862, in the Cumberland Mountains near the Tennessee line, loyalties split a tight-knit valley and neighbors found themselves on opposite sides as the Civil War pressed into daily life. An unnamed boy, now an old man, recalls these events as best as he can remember.
Patricia Clarkson as Sarah Anders carries the heavy burden of grief after her daughter dies at the hands of Yankees. The body is buried in Altamira, only to be dug up that same night and left exposed by Union soldiers, a cruel insult that amplifies her sorrow. Her husband is away fighting for the Confederacy, and she carries the coffin back to her homestead along Mershack Creek, Kentucky, intending to rebury her daughter near their land.
Chris Cooper plays Captain John Hull Abston, a Union officer who was a farmer before the war and is now a wary, conflicted leader from Brown County, Ohio. He commands a small raiding party—Corporal Neely, Rodie, a pole named Chicago, and Newt, the youngest. They arrive at Sarah’s cabin and seize what little they can find, but Newt is seriously wounded, forcing the group to stay put long enough for him to recover and travel again.
Amid the tension, the captain shows a rare spark of gentleness, helping to plow a small patch of land with mules and lightens the weight of occupation in a moment of quiet humanity.
The boy slips away at night to warn nearby neighbor Kris Kristofferson in his role as Preacher, a Confederate sympathizer, of their precarious situation. The preacher offers a biblical reminder that deepens the moral complexity of the moment:
> Pharaoh sent his armies to smite Israel, and they drowned in the Red Sea.
The following day, Roadie argues with Captain Abston and, disillusioned by the raid, deserts. The captain intends to shoot him, but before orders can be carried out, a sniper’s shot rings out, killing Roadie. The party retreats to the cabin, where Sarah and the boy fear the worst for their fate. Later, Preacher comes to retrieve the sniper’s body, claiming it as his own.
The captain buries the dead soldier next to Sarah’s daughter’s grave, a decision that enrages Sarah and drives her toward a feverish distress. The raiders depart, taking Sarah’s wagon, mule, and cow; the captain leaves a rifle “for the boy to shoot squirrels.” She tries to shoot him as they ride away, but the rifle is empty. When they’re out of sight, Sarah digs up the soldier’s body, and the boy—who had earlier stolen a revolver—catches up to the raiders, shoots Newt in the wagon, and flees; the captain pursues.
Back at the cabin, the captain returns with Newt’s body in the wagon and the mule, seeking the boy. He chastises the boy for killing the young soldier, and Sarah and the captain clash once more. Frustrated, she blurts out,
> Go ahead. Kill us.
The upset captain fires two rounds into the air, then asks that the dead be given a decent Christian burial before rejoining his two men as they press on.
In the aftermath, Rodie’s body is dumped into the creek to wash downstream, and Newt’s body is placed in a sinkhole beneath the roots of a fallen sycamore, covered with dirt. The Civil War drags on, and Sarah’s husband never returns.
An epilogue reveals that in 1941, a Kentucky mountaineer returned to that remote sinkhole—the place where, during the Civil War, a Union soldier was killed and buried. This film was inspired by his story as told to folklorist Harry M. Caudill.
