本片以内战初期为背景，讲述的是密西西比州的一个县，该县选择脱离该州，而不是加入冲突。该县由一位废奴主义者和一位美国原住民绅士保护，不受邦联的影响。废奴主义者的女儿被一家强大的报纸出版商求婚时，她的未婚夫（一名联邦官员）与女孩的妹妹埃洛普斯（Elopes）私奔。 女儿起初拒绝了出版商的关注，但当她的前未婚夫计划代表南方攻占这个割据的郡时，她向出版商寻求帮助。

Set at the beginning of the Civil War, Tap Roots is all about a county in Mississippi which chooses to secede from the state rather than enter the conflict. The county is protected from the Confederacy by an abolitionist and a Native American gentleman. The abolitionist's daughter is courted by a powerful newspaper publisher when her fiance, a confederate officer, elopes with the girl's sister. The daughter at first resists the publisher's attentions, but turns to him for aid when her ex-fiance plans to capture the seceding county on behalf of the South.

La future héritière d'une plantation du Mississippi, Morna Dabney, entend défendre son bien, la vaste plantation de Levington, et l'homme qu'elle aime, Keith Alexander, un journaliste local, menacés par la guerre de Sécession.

Die zukünftige Erbin einer Mississippi-Plantage beabsichtigt, ihr Eigentum, die riesige Plantage von Levington und den Mann, den sie liebt vor dem amerikanischen Bürgerkrieg zu verteidigen.

Infuria la guerra di secessione, ma i Dabney se ne vogliono tenere alla larga e continuare la loro vita tranquilla. Ma il fidanzato (Heflin) della figlia maggiore (Hayward) si arruola e parte soldato a fianco dei confederati. Al suo ritorno in città, porterà con sé la memoria della guerra a chi non ha voluto vederla.

Drama ambientado en la guerra de secesión americana. Morna pertenece a una familia que tiene una plantación en el Sur, pero sus ideas les inclinan a la Unión. En cambio Clay, el prometido de Morna, se va a alistar en el ejército confederado. Para complicar las cosas, Keith, un periodista local, se enamora de Morna.