In North Carolina in 1864, two young Confederate soldiers, Perch and Eddy, borrow some horses and go for a ride. They come across an isolated farm cabin. When Eddy decides to steal some chickens for dinner he is shot and killed by the young widow who lives there. Only days before she had lost her husband in the war. She is confronted by Perch, who must now decide what to do with her. Gradually they develop a relationship that allows each of them to experience a kind of "atonement" before Perch rides off with Eddy's body and rejoins his unit.
—Jim Lawrence