Plot Synopsis

Near the end of the Civil War, close friends and comrades Devil Anse Hatfield and Randall McCoy return to their neighboring homes -- Hatfield in West Virginia, McCoy just across the Tug River border in Kentucky. When Hatfield wins a legal battle against McCoy's cousin Perry Cline in a dispute over timber rights, the tension quickly explodes. Randall's brother Harmon, who served as a Union soldier, is the first casualty of the feud and Devil Anse uncle Jim Vance is said to be the killer. However, the tipping point of the feud is when Randall accuses Devil Anse's cousin Floyd of stealing his pig. Despite the bad blood, Randall's beautiful daughter Roseanna falls madly in love with Johnse Hatfield, Devil Anse Hatfield's oldest son, and the consequences are disastrous. As hostilities grow and more family members are massacred, friends, neighbors and outside forces join the fight, bringing the two states to the brink of another Civil War. The governors of West Virginia and Kentucky try to bring the feud to an end but, ultimately, the case goes to U.S. Supreme Court and the killers are brought to justice.