It is the spring of 1861. Scarlett
O’Hara, a pretty Southern belle, lives on Tara, a large plantation
in Georgia. She concerns herself only with her numerous suitors
and her desire to marry Ashley Wilkes. One day she hears that Ashley
is engaged to Melanie Hamilton, his frail, plain cousin from Atlanta.
At a barbecue at the Wilkes plantation the next day, Scarlett confesses her
feelings to Ashley. He tells her that he does love her but that
he is marrying Melanie because she is similar to him, whereas he
and Scarlett are very different. Scarlett slaps Ashley and he leaves
the room. Suddenly Scarlett realizes that she is not alone. Rhett
Butler, a scandalous but dashing adventurer, has been watching the
whole scene, and he compliments Scarlett on being unladylike.
The Civil War begins. Charles Hamilton, Melanie’s timid,
dull brother, proposes to Scarlett. She spitefully agrees to marry
him, hoping to hurt Ashley. Over the course of two months, Scarlett
and Charles marry, Charles joins the army and dies of the measles,
and Scarlett learns that she is pregnant. After Scarlett gives birth
to a son, Wade, she becomes bored and unhappy. She makes a long
trip to Atlanta to stay with Melanie and Melanie’s aunt, Pittypat.
The busy city agrees with Scarlett’s temperament, and she begins
to see a great deal of Rhett. Rhett infuriates Scarlett with his
bluntness and mockery, but he also encourages her to flout the severely
restrictive social requirements for mourning Southern widows. As
the war progresses, food and clothing run scarce in Atlanta. Scarlett
and Melanie fear for Ashley’s safety. After the bloody battle of
Gettysburg, Ashley is captured and sent to prison, and the Yankee
army begins bearing down on Atlanta. Scarlett desperately wants
to return home to Tara, but she has promised Ashley she will stay
with the pregnant Melanie, who could give birth at any time.
On the night the Yankees capture Atlanta and set it afire,
Melanie gives birth to her son, Beau. Rhett helps Scarlett and Melanie
escape the Yankees, escorting them through the burning streets of
the city, but he abandons them outside Atlanta so he can join the
Confederate Army. Scarlett drives the cart all night and day through
a dangerous forest full of deserters and soldiers, at last reaching
Tara. She arrives to find that her mother, Ellen, is dead; her father,
Gerald, has lost his mind; and the Yankee army has looted the plantation,
leaving no food or cotton. Scavenging for subsistence, a furious
Scarlett vows never to go hungry again.
Scarlett takes charge of rebuilding Tara. She murders
a Yankee thief and puts out a fire set by a spiteful Yankee soldier.
At last the war ends, word comes that Ashley is free and on his
way home, and a stream of returning soldiers begins pouring through
Tara. One such soldier, a one-legged homeless Confederate named
Will Benteen, stays on and helps Scarlett with the plantation. One
day, Will brings terrible news: Jonas Wilkerson, a former employee
at Tara and current government official, has raised the taxes on
Tara, hoping to drive the O’Haras out so that he might buy the plantation. Distraught,
Scarlett hurries to Atlanta to seduce Rhett Butler so that he will
give her the three hundred dollars she needs for taxes. Rhett has
emerged from the war a fabulously wealthy man, dripping with earnings
from his blockade-running operation and from food speculation. However,
Rhett is in a Yankee jail and cannot help Scarlett. Scarlett sees
her sister’s beau, Frank Kennedy, who now owns a general store,
and forges a plan. Determined to save Tara, she betrays her sister
and marries Frank, pays the taxes on Tara, and devotes herself to
making Frank’s business more profitable.
After Rhett blackmails his way out of prison, he lends
Scarlett enough money to buy a sawmill. To the displeasure of Atlanta
society, Scarlett becomes a shrewd businesswoman. Gerald dies, and Scarlett
returns to Tara for the funeral. There, she persuades Ashley and
Melanie to move to Atlanta and accept a share in her lumber business.
Shortly thereafter, Scarlett gives birth to Frank’s child, Ella Lorena.
A free black man and his white male companion attack
Scarlett on her way home from the sawmill one day. That night, the
Ku Klux Klan avenges the attack on Scarlett, and Frank ends up dead.
Rhett proposes to Scarlett and she quickly accepts. After a long,
luxurious honeymoon in New Orleans, Scarlett and Rhett return to
Atlanta, where Scarlett builds a garish mansion and socializes with
wealthy Yankees. Scarlett becomes pregnant again and has another
child, Bonnie Blue Butler. Rhett dotes on the girl and begins a
successful campaign to win back the good graces of the prominent
Atlanta citizens in order to keep Bonnie from being an outcast like
Scarlett.
Scarlett and Rhett’s marriage begins happily, but Rhett
becomes increasingly bitter and indifferent toward her. Scarlett’s
feelings for Ashley have diminished into a warm, sympathetic friendship,
but Ashley’s jealous sister, India, finds them in a friendly embrace
and spreads the rumor that they are having an affair. To Scarlett’s
surprise, Melanie takes Scarlett’s side and refuses to believe the
rumors.
After Bonnie is killed in a horse-riding accident, Rhett
nearly loses his mind, and his marriage with Scarlett worsens. Not
long after the funeral, Melanie has a miscarriage and falls very
ill. Distraught, Scarlett hurries to see her. Melanie makes Scarlett
promise to look after Ashley and Beau. Scarlett realizes that she
loves and depends on Melanie and that Ashley has been only a fantasy
for her. She concludes that she truly loves Rhett. After Melanie
dies, Scarlett hurries to tell Rhett of her revelation. Rhett, however,
says that he has lost his love for Scarlett, and he leaves her.
Grief-stricken and alone, Scarlett makes up her mind to go back
to Tara to recover her strength in the comforting arms of her childhood
nurse and slave, Mammy, and to think of a way to win Rhett back.
