The Stoneman family finds its friendship with the Camerons affected by the Civil War, both fighting in opposite armies. The development of the war in their lives plays through to Lincoln's assassination and the birth of the Ku Klux Klan.
Griffith defined the vocabulary norms of American cinematic editing. His short works are valuable also here. While his pro-Jim Crow hero worship of the Ku Klux Klan was appalling and led to protests even upon release, the fact is that never before had cinema-goers experienced the editorial devices that create this epic work, and adventure film.