Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh star in this epic romantic drama based on Margaret Mitchell's novel set during the American Civil War. Southern belle Scarlett O'Hara (Leigh), the daughter of a Georgia plantation owner, often uses men to get what she wants, but is unable to get the one man she truly desires, Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard). She soon meets her match in the roguish Rhett Butler (Gable) and in the war itself which destroys the genteel way of life she has always known. With determination she attempts to rebuild her life from shattered remains following the Confederacy's defeat.