Two families, abolitionist Northerners the Stonemans and Southern landowners the Camerons, intertwine. When Confederate colonel Ben Cameron is captured in battle, nurse Elsie Stoneman petitions for his pardon. In Reconstruction-era South Carolina, Cameron founds the Ku Klux Klan, battling Elsie's congressman father and his African-American protégé, Silas Lynch.
Lillian Gish
Stoneman's Daughter Elsie
Mae Marsh
Flora Cameron
Henry B. Walthall
Col. Ben Cameron
Miriam Cooper
Margaret Cameron
Mary Alden
Stoneman's Housekeeper Lydia
Ralph Lewis
Leader of the House Hon. Austin Stoneman
George Siegmann
Lieut. Governor Silas Lynch
Walter Long
Gus
