An old shop owner remembers his childhood – the day on which he saw a parade of soldiers going by. One of them caught his eye in particular; a handsome giant of a man who, to a seven-year-old, looked like a hero. The boy runs after him, and to his delight the soldier lifts him onto his shoulder and continues the parade. They sing as they walk; women wave to them, and for the boy this is a dream come true. The soldier, Ace Kane, informs the caretaker Dart that he is taking the boy, but will return him by the end of the day. Kane takes the boy back to the camp. The starstruck boy does not want to go home, but Kane allows him to sit on his horse, which makes the pain easier to bear. The boy’s parents are able to convince the soldier to stay for dinner. As they converse, the boy realises how contemptible his father looks in comparison to Kane and how jealous he feels when his sisters try and fail to get Kane’s attention. His father had been a soldier, but had left the army to start a business. When Kane leaves and promises to come back the next day, the boy is overjoyed. This promise is kept; Kane takes him to an old Confederate battlefield and talks about the history of the place. The boy is sure that he has found a hero. Then one night he wakes up to the sound of men fighting. His father and Dart are fighting a masked man who had tried to steal the best horse from their stables – the boy is horrified to discover that it is Kane. His father fights well, and defeats Kane, who loses consciousness. The boy is disillusioned – his father realises this and embraces him tightly. He tells Dart to give the horse to Kane as a gift from one soldier to another. The boy realises that there are no real heroes in the world, and comes back to the present; where he is an old man standing alone in his picture-shop.