| Director | William Wyler |
|---|---|
| Budget | $3 million |
| Box office | $8 million |
In Jennings County, Indiana, in 1862, Jess Birdwell is a farmer and patriarch of the Birdwell family whose Quaker religion conflicts with his love for the worldly enjoyments of music and horse racing. Jess's deeply religious wife, Eliza, a Quaker minister, steadfastly maintains the Quaker peace testimony. Jess's daughter, Mattie, wants to remain a Quaker but has fallen in love with Union cavalry officer Gard Jordan, against her mother's convictions. Jess's elder son, Josh, is torn between hatred of violence and the compulsion to protect his family by joining the home guard to fight invaders. The family's youngest member, "Little Jess", is forever teasing his mother's reciprocating pet goose, Samantha. Enoch, a runaway slave, is a laborer on their farm; his children are still enslaved in the South.
The Quaker community tries to maintain their faith as they go to meeting on First Day (Sunday), contrasted with the attitudes of Birdwells' neighbor, Sam Jordan, and other members of the nearby Methodist Church. Interrupting the Quaker meeting, a Union officer asks how the Quaker men can stand by when their houses will be looted and their families terrorized by approaching Confederate troops. When confronted with the question of his being afraid to fight, Josh Birdwell responds that it might be the case. His honesty provokes the wrath of Purdy, a Quaker elder, who condemns people who do not believe as he does.
Meanwhile, the Quaker family tries to resist the temptations of amusements at a county fair. Shell game wagers, who bet on Little Jess’s ability to spot where the ball is hidden, are disappointed when his disapproving mother extracts him from the game. At a wrestling match, Josh supports a friend who earns wagers’ hostility when he refuses to continue after hurting his opponent. Jess buys an organ over Eliza's opposition, causing her to sleep in the barn in protest; a tactful Jess joins her there, smoothing her ruffled feathers and reaching a compromise. Eliza urges Jess to get rid of the dashing but uninspired horse that loses in the “impromptu” Sunday horse races between Jess and Sam. On a business trip, Jess and Josh stay at the farm of the widow Hudspeth, dodging the attentions of the widow and her unmarried daughters; there Jess acquires a homely but fast horse that easily defeats Sam in their next horse race. Despite Mattie's initial mortification when Gard Jordan teases her after overhearing her praising his appearance to Little Jess, the two declare their mutual feelings as the soldier leaves for battle.
As Jess is cultivating his fields, he notices smoke on the horizon from burning buildings. Josh arrives, informing them the neighboring community has been reduced to ash and corpses. Enoch leaves to avoid being recaptured by Confederates and returned to slavery. Josh's conviction that he must fight threatens to destroy the family. Eliza tells him that by turning his back on their religion he is turning his back on her, but Jess disagrees. Finding himself on the front line of battle to stop the advance of the raiders, Josh only fires his gun when the man next to him is wounded. Meanwhile, Jess is reluctant to fight; he picks up a rifle and rides off towards the fighting when the family horse gallops back to the farm riderless.
When Confederates arrive at the farm, with only Eliza, Mattie, and Little Jess present, the family and the farm are saved when Eliza greets them on the porch, welcoming them to take all the food and animals they want and feeding them in the kitchen. Despite her nonviolent beliefs, when Eliza sees a Rebel soldier capture her pet, Samantha, Eliza beats the soldier with a broom until he releases the goose unharmed; her prior hospitality results in his apology. As Jess finds Sam Jordan dying, he is bushwhacked by a Rebel. Playing possum, after the Rebel soldier approaches, Jess struggles with him and takes away his gun. Wresting with his emotions and beliefs, Jess ultimately lets the Rebel go free unhurt. He brings home the injured Josh. Each member of the family has faced the question of whether it is ever right to engage in violence.