In the opening scenes, the main character James is introduced. James is a young adult living in Boston in the 1770's. James works on a farm for a living, but wants to become an author and write books once.
In the next scenes, we see James working on the farm when he hears a commotion in town. James heads into town to see what the source of the noise was. Here James sees a violent fight- protesters throwing objects at British soldiers and the soldiers firing shots into the crowd. James is horrified to see a man shot by the British die right in front of him.
After the disturbing events James witnessed, he is very angry and decides he must do something about it. In these scenes, James is showing writing and preparing speeches. He then delivers these speeches to whoever will listen. He attends town meetings and many townspeople agree with his words- The British are cruel and oppressive and something must be done to stop them he says.
The scenes now have flipped 5 years forward, to the start of the revolutionary war. James is now older, and has a wife and a small boy. James has enlisted to fight in the war, and although he is sad to leave his family, he believes in the ideals of the Declaration Of Independence, and wants to fight for his country.
In the penultimate scenes, we see a montage of James fighting in battle. In one final battle, James is shot in the chest, which causes his death. James dies knowing that he fought and sacrificed himself for his country, for the words of the Declarationg, and for his family.
The final scenes show James' son, now a teenager visiting his father's grave. His son sits for a moment at the grave and speaks to his father. Though he misses him, he is so thankful of all that his father did to ensure a better future for him and for the country he would grow up in. He knows that his father died as a hero, and he hopes that he can somehow see the independent country that he lives in.