Alvin York was raised in the backwoods of Tennesee. He is care-free rowdy who with the help of the village pastor learns to understand the relevance of religion. He is a skilled hunter and an expert with the rifle. His trick is to imitate the turkey lure to get the birrds in his gunsight - a talent that he also makes use of when je joins the Army and eventually shipped to fight in France. On one occasion he single-handedly manages to kill twenty enemy soldiers and to bring about the surrender of 132 others. He is therefore awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, La Medaille Militaire, Le croix de Guerre, and the Congressional Medal of Honor that make him the highest decorated ordinary soldier of WWI. But York is no hung-ho hero but a man whose strong religious beliefs throw him into an internal struggle between patritism and pacifism.