Joe Elliot and Duncan Elliott brothers, living in a border state, find their house divided, as one enlists in the army of the North, the other donning the uniform of gray. They part in anger, and when, a year later, they meet on the same battlefield, under a flag of truce, the old spirit of resentment between the brothers grows more acute. Duncan again inside his lines, plays Dixie on his trumpet in defiance, and Joe retorts with "Yankee Doodle." Softly someone breaks this echo of anger and in tones of "Home, Sweet Home." Then the heart of each stern man melts and they cry out. "Not Blue or Gray, but my brother." They do not fight again until the conclusion of the great conflict, when Joe comes home with the laurels of the victor, and poor, broken Duncan, ill in the bitterness of defeat. In the home of his father, with the arms of his sweetheart about him, he finds life still worth living, and Joe comes openhanded to help him carve out a new fortune for their families.