Nat Banks, a gentleman farmer, loses his family seat to a pair of real estate operators from Washington, D.C. But when the time comes for Nat to leave his ancestral home and move to a rental house in town, the pride of possession from so many generations on the same soil makes it impossible for him to go. He moves into a cave by the creek that runs through the back of his former property instead. Nat won't go down without a fight! He spends the summer there in a kind of Robinson Crusoe splendor in the wilds of Virginia, until the cold rains of November make the folly of his situation overwhelming. But when new owners leave Greenwood empty to spend the winter in Palm Springs, Nat and his family just move back in, to reclaim their family home until the spring thaw brings about a final confrontation between the dubious forces of progress and the old guard of Virginia.