"[6][7][8][9] The story is set in Georgia, and the production was filmed in Natchez, Mississippi including at the Melrose mansion[10] It centres around the Kendrick family, owners of Beulah Land and those connected to the plantation by history and fate.
[12] When two young sisters, Sarah (Lesley Ann Warren) and Lauretta (Meredith Baxter Birney), first visit Beulah Land with their guardian, Penelope (Martha Scott), the plantation is run by the stern hand of Deborah Kendrick (Hope Lange), a widow with a son, Leon (Paul Rudd), and a daughter, Selma (Madeline Stowe).
Sarah later marries Leon, while Lauretta - a flirt with an eye for adventure - elopes with an actor for a life upon the stage.
Early in her administration of the plantation, Sarah locks horns with the cruel, ambitious overseer, Roscoe Corlay (Paul Shenar).
The start of the American Civil War and the arrival of General Sherman's troops shatter life at Beulah Land, but Sarah vows to rebuild the plantation from its own ashes.