Prior to the breaking out of the Civil War, Col. Dayton, a widower with an eighteen-year-old daughter, Eleanor, resides in the old homestead at Ridgeville, Va. He goes to Boston on a business trip, where he meets a widow with a daughter of the same age as Eleanor. The Colonel falls in love with the widow, and after a brief courtship they are married. His business requiring close attention, he sends his new wife to the old home. Eleanor greets her stepmother and her stepsister, Maud, affectionately, but they treat her with disdain. Their haughty manners and overbearing manner gain for them the enmity of the negroes, and Eleanor’s feelings are hurt when the new mistress of the house removes the picture of Eleanor’s mother from the wall. Col. Dayton returns home, and Mrs. Dayton pretends affection for Eleanor, while in his presence, and completely deceives the Colonel, Eleanor refrains from telling her father what she has suffered at the hands of the step relations, and on the declaration of war be goes to the front at the head of his regiment. Sensational scenes of battle are shown, in which the Colonel is engaged. A month later the Northern troops capture Ridgeville and the boys in blue come triumphantly marching down the street. A loyal Southern woman defiantly unfurls the Confederate flag in her front yard and stands before it. The soldiers are prevented from doing her harm by Capt. Hammond, who gently takes the offending flag from her. The Dayton homestead is utilized by the soldiers as headquarters, and Mrs. Dayton quickly tells them that she is a Northern woman and introduces her daughter. She is charmed by the courtly manner of the handsome Capt. Hammond, and gives him Eleanor’s bedroom, forcing her to reside with the old Negro mammy. Mrs. Dayton hopes to marry Maud to Capt. Hammond. Capt. Hammond, however, accidentally meets Eleanor at the well and falls in love with her, and the two meet clandestinely. Col. Dayton persuades the Confederates to make an attack on Ridgeville and recapture it. Hammond, knowing how serious the battle will be, asks Eleanor to marry him and she consents. They are joined in wedlock by the minister. While the ceremony is taking place Col. Dayton’s regiment make a brilliant attack upon the city. Capt. Hammond is trapped as he emerges from the minister’s house with Eleanor, and the raging Colonel tries to get at him, but is restrained by Eleanor, who finally persuades her father to assist her husband to escape. Eleanor tells her father of the inhuman treatment she has received at the hands of her stepmother and Maud, and the angry Colonel vows to avenge the wrongs done his child. Capt. Hammond rejoins his command and tries to rally his demoralized men. The fighting is desperate, but nothing can stay the exultant Southern boys, and the Union retreat becomes a rout. Once more the stars and bars float over Ridgeville, and the Colonel is the idol of the hour. Mrs. Dayton and Maud try to greet him affectionately. Bitterly he upbraids them for their conduct and declares: “The woman who cannot be a mother to my daughter cannot be a wife to me.” Mrs. Dayton tries to plead with him, but he orders her from the house. The years roll by, bringing with them peace. Once more The Colonel is at his home with Eleanor. Eleanor, looking out of the window, sees Capt. Hammond coming, and with a cry of joy rushes to the door to greet her husband. The Colonel, perplexed for a moment, decides to accept his son-in-law.