As the American Civil war ends, Colonel William Wolfe, disfigured both in body and soul, travels to Williamsburg, Virginia to see his fiancé. Excited to claim the woman he has fallen in love with even more through her many, long letters, William is devastated at both the sight of the worn-torn country and the repulsion he first receives from Annie. Permelia, Annie’s sister, has loved William from afar for many years. Caring not that his once-handsome face is scarred, she is thrilled to see him and accept his help on the plantation, even though he still seems stricken with Annie. But when he finds the $20 gold coin he had given Annie as a token of their love in Permelia’s possession, William begins to suspect the truth.