It is based on the 1863 short story The Man Without a Country by Edward Everett Hale.

[1][2][3] As described in a film magazine review,[4] young officer Philip Nolan, from a patriotic family, is attached to a frontier army post in 1800 when he joins the cause of Aaron Burr with his dream of a western empire.

His sentence is to be sent aboard a ship and never to hear of or set foot in the United States again.

He begins a journey around the world that lasts through 10 presidential administrations, during which time his sweetheart Anne Bissell attempts to have him freed.

After several heroic actions, including saving the day in a fight with a pirate ship, Anne secures a pardon from President Lincoln.