The year is 1832. A family traveling through New Salem, Menard County, Illinois, Illinois in their wagon need groceries from Abraham Lincoln (Henry Fonda) store and the only thing of value they have to trade is a barrel of old books including a law book, ''Blackstone's Commentaries''. After thoroughly reading the book, Abe opts for the law after receiving encouragement from his early, ill-fated love, Ann Rutledge (Pauline Moore), who soon dies. Too poor to own even a horse, he arrives in Springfield, Illinois on a mule and soon establishes a law practice in 1837 with friend John Stuart (Edwin Maxwell (actor)). After a raucous, day-long Independence Day celebration, a man named Skrub White is killed after pulling a gun in a fight; the accused are two brothers, Matt and Adam Clay (Richard Cromwell and Eddie Quillan). Lincoln prevents the lynching of the accused at the jail by shaming the angry, drunken mob. He also convinces them that he really needs these clients for his first real case.