Civil War drama that takes place within the twenty-four hours of April 17, 1865, in and around the Tressler farm in Missouri. There was scattered fighting in the closing days of the Civil War after Lee surrendered at Appomattox. A Confederate soldier, Captain Jeff McCleod, has been wounded and left for dead on a small Missouri battlefield. He is found by Jannie, a 15-year-old Yankee boy, and brought home to a household of women who, reluctantly, hide McCleod in the cellar and lie about his presence to a search party of Union soldiers led by Lt. Train. Also nearby, the tattered remains of McCleod's regiment search for him and finally discover his whereabouts. Although word reaches both sides that the war has ended, neither Confederate nor Union troops can avoid a last battle in the farmyard--a pointless skirmish that pits McCleod against his close friend Geraldi.