Turning his back on the carnage of the American Civil War, soldier Inman begins a treacherous journey through the soon-to-be defeated South. He is going home, to Cold Mountain, where his sweetheart Ada struggles to make a living from the land. Neither knows if the other is alive.Turning his back on the carnage of the American Civil War, soldier Inman begins a treacherous journey through the soon-to-be defeated South. He is going home, to Cold Mountain, where his sweetheart Ada struggles to make a living from the land. Neither knows if the other is alive. Winner of United States National Book Awards: Fiction 1997.