美国南北战争前夕,南方农场塔拉庄园的千金斯嘉丽(费雯·丽 Vivien Leigh 饰)爱上了另一个农场主的儿子艾希礼(莱斯利·霍华德 Leslie Howard 饰),遭到了拒绝,为了报复,她嫁给了自己不爱的男人,艾希礼妻子梅兰妮(奥利维娅·德哈维兰 Olivia de Havilland 饰)的弟弟查尔斯。
战争期间,斯嘉丽成为寡妇,失去母亲,挑起生活的重担, 不再是当初的千金小姐;战争结束后,她又两度为人妻,嫁给了爱她多年的投机商人瑞德(克拉克·盖博 Clark Gable 饰)。
然而,纵使经历了生活的艰苦,斯嘉丽对艾希礼的感情仍然没有改变。艾希礼妻子梅兰妮的去世,给了斯嘉丽一个机会,一边是深爱自己的丈夫瑞德,一边是心心念念多年的艾希礼?斯嘉丽会给自己怎样一个不一样的明天?
811 AD, a family, isolated in their home, deep in the woods a few days travel from Birka. They are poor. The hunting and fishing has been bad for some time, and the father, Joar, takes the desperate measure of going on a Viking raid. Joar does not return for a long time, and the family starts to fear he never will. Runa, the oldest daughter, takes over her fathers chores in his absence. She misses him dearly and nourishes a tender hope that he, once again, will return to them. But in her heart, somehow she knows, that the suffering of the family has just begun. There is something in the air, something in the water, the wind and in the soil. Runa is becoming aware of something vile, something dangerous out in the forest. One day when she is out hunting, she finds a bleeding man, a warrior, almost unconscious. She brings him inside and the family tend to his wounds. As he heals, she realizes he is sent to protect the family from an approaching evil. And he brings news of her father.