TERRY SWEET
 

When Will I See You Again
Treatment By
Sherman Mulberry &
Alfonso Corral

 

Letters from Nashville

Treatment by Sherman Mulberry & Alfonso Corral
The logline: It’s a love story about two characters named Billy and Adie who are like Romeo and Juliet set in

Nashville during the civil war. It’s also about fighting for love and survival. It’s a story about rebellion against

social norms of the time.
 

It’s the battle at Paradise, Tennessee March 22, 1862. We first see that the sunrises casting light over the battlefield. The union army emerges from the woods with their rifled muskets and the union flag waved high. At the sound of the horn, the union army runs toward the confederates. Cannons fired by confederate soldiers strike some union soldiers, but union soldiers outnumber

confederates. As the Union soldiers advance, they overpower Confederates operating the cannons, and are stabbed by union

soldier bayonets. Confederate Maj. Nathan Carl (NC) Jones is on horseback while watching confederates get slaughtered. As

the horse gallops over dead bodies.

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In this next scene we see that NC escapes and is surrounded by confederates. They look sad at defeat. They discuss how

they recognize unions soldiers who they let live from other battles were now fighting in this one. NC makes a

suggestion that maybe they shouldn’t let any survivors alive next time. We learn how sick and demented NC is in this scene. It’s not obvious how evil NC is, but it hints at what he’ll do in the future.

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We see that William (Billy) Dunn has arrived by train. Billy exits the train wearing a weathered cowboy hat and a long

dust covered duster. Beneath his duster hangs a gun from a string around his neck. Billy is dressed differently than

everyone else. He looks more like a cowboy. He scans the streets of Nashville and sees white men and black men. The

black men are walking in chains. He walks past a stage and there is an auction for black slaves. There is a man calling

for the highest bidder.

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Billy enters a saloon with his bags and orders a drink. The bartender has an accent. He lets Billy know his first

language is German and he’s been living in Germantown Tennessee. Billy also meets Kenny, a local drunk and gambler. Kenny is also from Germantown. We find out that Billy is an outlaw and he’s selling stolen medical suppliesin town. He doesn’t say they’re stolen. He’s just in town to make money. He has no allegiance to either the south or the north. He’s there to set up shop in Nashville. He’s also originally from Ohio of Irish descent.

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In the next scene we meet Adelaide (Adie) Jones, a young beautiful woman. She is at church with her father, NC Jones.

Seating at the Methodist church is designed by race as social class. The slaves sit in the back. The small farmers sit right in front of them. Adie and her father sit near the front as they are from a prominent family in Nashville.

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In a sign of rebellion, Adie gets up during the middle of church service to stand with her friend and maid Hannah. The

preacher talks about slaves being obedient to their masters and quotes St. Paul’s letter 1 Timothy 6:1-2.

Adie has many suitors who try to approach her after church.

NC Jones would like to set her up with the Methodist preacher’s son. His family inherited land from his mother’s

side and he's also a doctor, but she is not attracted to him. She does not like the social class systems of the south. Her father arranges a date with Adie and the preacher’s son to take her to the church ball. She does not want to go with him because she won’t be able to meet other men if he’s her plus one. She tells Hannah to tell her father that she left early.

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Adie sneaks off and ends up in a saloon. There is music,confederates soldiers drinking, and friendly women. The women are trying to humor the men because they are high ranking men in the Confederate Army. Billy is at the saloon gambling. It’s not a place for a woman in her position. She and Billy make eye contact. They talk and end up dancing and changing partners. This is a change partner’s dance.

They have a good time. Her father is disappointed because she’s not at the ball.

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The next day Adie informs her father she spent the night dancing at the saloon. His father finds out that she spent

the night dancing with a northerner who is Roman Catholic. Her father tells her this northerner takes his orders from

the pope. The pope is disgusted with our way of life. Adie, being the rebel that she is and disgusted with the social

class system of the south, begins to like Billy. She tells Hannah that she could not disappoint her father. So she writes a letter and gives it to Hannah. She can’t be seen in public with him because he’s a northerner and because of

her father’s position in the Confederate Army.

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We see carriages of dead confederate men arriving in Nashville. Alongside injured men struggling to survive, a confederate soldier stops to talk to Adie about how bad the war is. He mentions the Yankees are barbarians. He’s simply protecting his home state from invaders.

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Billy approaches Adie on horseback and while she’s on her carriage on her way to meet the preacher’s son to announce

her engagement, Billy steals her comb and rides away. He goes to the saloon and she orders the carriage to go back

to saloon to get her comb back. She is going to leave the preacher’s son planted because getting her comb back from

Billy is more important.

She’s furious at Billy and they decide to talk it over. Billy is sitting down in a table surrounded by women from

the saloon. She gets her comb back. He follows to her carriage and kisses her goodbye. They begin seeing each other regularly. NC Jones orders Billy arrested for selling stolen medical supplies in town.

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Shortly after Billy is released from prison on bail awaiting trial, Adie breaks it off with him. He goes to a local church to pray and think things through.

Billy decides that there is nothing in Nashville for him since he lost his business and her. He doesn’t believe in the Confederate cause. He doesn’t like social class system of the south. He joins the Union Army as Pvt. William Dunn.

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If the union wins, there will be no social class systems. He’d be fighting for someone like him to be free to marry a girl like her. He concedes that they’re not meant to be together He goes back to the saloon for one final poker game.

He runs into the preacher’s son who was once engaged to Adie at the saloon. He’s was there with a German girl from

the saloon. He spots Billy and informs him that he’s a fugitive. They tell the preacher’s son not to say anything and they won’t tell anyone he was with a girl from the saloon. Everyone in town will laugh at him. He agrees to keep quiet. Billy meets with Adie at the saloon. They talk about the book of Job. He describes what happened to Job. Sometimes evil wins, but with Job, his spirit was never crushed. He never lost faith in God. The devil could not change Job in spite of his suffering.

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The preacher’s son sees them talking and becomes jealous. He changes his mind and goes to the authorities.

Billy escapes to Germantown. With the help of Kenny the Gambler. Kenny decides to help him because he has made

money from beating Billy at poker.

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We see the battle of Brentwood March 25th, 1863 Billy is in uniform and he marches in battle and shoots Confederate

soldiers. Someone next to him gets shot. We hear him writing his first letter.

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BILLY VOICEOVER

To my beloved Adie… I wrote to say, I love you

The war keeps me away from you

Troops dug in deep and the battle brims

When will I see you again?

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We see Adie reading his letter and putting it down while sitting down in front of a desk.

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BILLY VOICEOVER

Shall I return, we’ll marry

I fill’d my country’s pledge of thee

Chained men are free but the battle brims

When will I see you again?

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We see Billy bonding with black soldiers. They take a knee and pray together.

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We see the Battle of Missionary Ridge November 25th 1863.

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We see Billy’s face in horror as he stabs to death a confederate with a bayonet who charged at him. We learn

that Lincoln has freed the slaves in an announcement in an open letter.

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NC Jones tells Adie that she could marry Billy if the north wins the war. He’ll accept him as a son in law. She could become catholic and marry at a Roman Catholic Church. She doesn’t like the Methodist preacher preaching slavery. That is fine with him.

 

The next scene we see NC Jones order the execution of confederate traitors including Kenny the Gambler.

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In the next scene we see the bartender from the saloon tells Hannah that the preacher’s son probably has syphilis

because he was with a German girl from the saloon.

 

Kenny was executed because he knew too much.

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Billy informs Adie in a letter that he’ll be in Paradise, Tennessee. She agrees to meet him at a local Roman Catholic Church.

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NC Jones tells Hannah the slave that he would like Adie to marry the preacher’s son. Hannah tells NC Jones that he

probably has syphilis and Adie was lucky not to marry him.

NC Jones gets angry.

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ADIE VOICEOVER

To my beloved Billy. I wrote to say, I love you

The war keeps me away from you

The soothing roar of the battle hymn

When will I see you again?

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We see the fictional battle of Paradise, Tennessee April 12th, 1864. Inspired by the battle of Fort Pillow and the

Fort Pillow Massacre. The Confederate Army is led by General Nathan Bedford Forest (NBF). Billy is fighting

alongside black Union Soldiers. Rows of men are shot by the Williams Machine Gun attached to two carriage wheels. NBF

orders for there to be no survivors at Paradise. We see Adie waiting for Billy inside the church. Billy avoids the

Williams Machine gun and hides in trenches. He tries to tell his friends not to charge but they do so anyway and

get mowed down by the machine gun. He runs away.

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We see Billy running through the forest. He makes eye contact with NC Jones. NC shoots Billy in Paradise Tennessee. We then see the confederate flag waved high with the sun setting. There is a line of dead union soldiers on the ground.

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Adie leaves the church tired of waiting. NC arrives home and hugs Adie. He informs Adie that there were no survivors. NBF ordered all captured Union soldiers to death. NC says he arrived too late to stop NBF.

Adie’s spirit is not crushed. She wipes tears from her eyes.

Addie tells Hannah to help her pack her bags. She tells Hannah she’s going to Ohio. That’s because the culture is different in Ohio. She believes there is no social class system like in Nashville and people from all over the world. Her last act of rebellion