In antebellum Natchez, Mississippi, cousins Sawyer Dundee and Solomon Witcher come into manhood. Both cousins, back from college in the North, attend a party at Clifton, a grand mansion owned by an older couple, the Surgets, and befriend many of the elite Natchez social circle. Sawyer remains in Natchez to run the family sawmill and homestead. Solomon, admonished when he was young by Grandma Dundee that he was special and now realizing his personal...