In 1859, idealist John Wickliff Shawnessey, a resident of Raintree County, Indiana, is distracted from his high school sweetheart Nell Gaither by Susanna Drake, a rich New Orleans girl. This love triangle is further complicated by the American Civil War, and dark family history.

Elizabeth Taylor
as Susanna Drake Shawnessy

Montgomery Clift
as John Wickliff Shawnessy

Eva Marie Saint
as Nell Gaither

Nigel Patrick
as Prof. Jerusalem Webster Stiles

Lee Marvin
as Orville 'Flash' Perkins

Rod Taylor
as Garwood B. Jones

Agnes Moorehead
as Ellen Shawnessy

Walter Abel
as T.D. Shawnessy

Jarma Lewis
as Barbara Drake

Tom Drake
as Bobby Drake