As the contested 1876 presidential election threatens to end Reconstruction, a passionate young suffragette and a college graduate, who joins the army to battle the Ku Klux Klan, work to preserve civil rights while engaged in a tumultuous romance.

• The Way We Were set against the 1876 election

SYNOPSIS:

Anna Hill is a free spirit and advocate for universal suffrage. James Keenan is a Yale graduate and son of a Civil War officer who died in battle. He meets Anna at Oberlin. They fall in love, bonding over their support for civil rights. After a whirlwind romance, Anna and James breakup, because Anna sleeps with other men. In an effort to forget her, James joins the army. He’s dispatched South to fight the KKK, but he can’t stop thinking about Anna. He writes to her about how the southerners have successfully defied the army’s efforts to protect civil rights. Returning to civilian life, James is employed by Republican Senator John Sherman and reconciles with Anna who is lobbying for women’s suffrage.

The 1876 Electoral College results are close. James goes to Louisiana with Sherman and they manipulate ballots in their party’s favor. Traveling with James, Anna witnesses the horrendous existence of the “freed” Blacks. Congress receives electoral certifications from both party’s candidates in three states. An Electoral Commission rigged by the Republicans decides on certification. James sees the Republican efforts around the election as necessary for forging a better future. Anna thinks they’re disreputable. She is disenchanted with James and pregnant.

Republicans promise to end Reconstruction if Southern Democrats back their candidate on final certification. James accepts this compromise as a brilliant ploy. Anna considers it a disastrous reversal for civil rights. She leaves James. When President Hayes ends Reconstruction, James is distraught that Republicans abandoned civil rights to maintain power. He pleads with Anna to return home, but she had an abortion and their marriage ends.

Decades later, Anna and James meet again. They’re haunted by their past together. They fought for their ideals and lost, but they’re grateful for the time they shared.