This biopic tells the story of how Samuel Clemens (Fredric March) became the renowned author Mark Twain. Growing up in the 1830s in Hannibal, Miss., Clemens works as a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River. After he finds a picture of a beautiful girl (Alexis Smith) and vows to marry her, he quits his job and travels to Nevada in search of gold with his friend Steve (Alan Hale). In the midst of the Civil War, Clemens begins writing prolifically, thus beginning his famed career.
