In Shenandoah, Virginia, the widower farmer Charlie Anderson lives a peaceful life with his six sons - Jacob, James, Nathan, John, Henry and Boy, his daughter Jennie, and his daughter-in-law and James' wife Ann Anderson on his farm. Charlie does not let his sons to join the army to fight in the American Civil War that he considers that it is not their war. Meanwhile Jennie marries to her beloved Lieutenant Sam, but they do not have honeymoon since Sam has to go to the front. When Charlie's youngest son Boy is mistakenly taken prisoner by soldiers from the North. Charlie rides with his sons to rescue Boy, while James and Ann stays on the farm. But it is time of violence and war, and tragedy reaches the Anderson family.
