A Missouri farmer's love for his hunting dog triggers a feud that divides the county.

In the Ozark Mountains of Missouri, local farmers participate in fox hunts with special dogs that they breed. Spring Davis, a local farmer, loves his dogs very much, especially "Molly," and when Molly dies giving birth to a litter of pups, the saddened Spring favors the runt of the litter, "Miss Ann." As Ann matures, she develops a rare "bugle voice" bark, so the proud Spring calls her "Bugle Ann." On the night of Ann's first hunt, she comports herself like a champion, pleasing Spring, but the evening is marred by the discovery that their mean-spirited neighbor, Jacob Terry, is erecting a fence on his property to raise sheep. Spring and Terry argue over the fence and, after Terry threatens to shoot any dog that comes on his property, Spring warns him that he will "blow him clean to glory" if he shoots a dog. Despite Spring and Terry's animosity, Spring's son Benjy and Terry's daughter Camden are in love. Though Spring recognizes that Camden is not like her father, Terry feels nothing but hatred toward Benjy and warns Camden not to see the boy again. That night, Terry hits Camden, and she packs up and drives away, leaving her father alone. Because Cal Royster, one of Spring's friends, hears a dog's yelp coming from Terry's farm and Ann has not returned home, the next day the Roysters, Spring and other local farmers arm themselves and go looking for her at Terry's farm. Spring finds a three-toed track in the dirt that could only have been made by Ann and angrily confronts Terry, who denies that he has harmed the dog. He then takes aim at Spring with his rifle, but before Terry can shoot, Spring shoots and kills him. Because neither Ann nor her body has been found, Spring is convicted of killing Terry and sentenced to twenty years in prison. Within a year, the sound of Ann's voice has been heard at night throughout the county, and many believe that it is the voice of a ghost. Two years later, however, Ann's body is found, strangled in a wire fence in the hills, and everyone realizes that Terry had not killed her after all. Another year passes, and Spring is suddenly pardoned by the governor and comes home to learn about Ann. On the night of his homecoming, Spring decides to go on a hunt and hears a bugle bark in the distance. Just then, Camden comes to his camp fire and says that the voice is that of a pup she has reared, the daughter of Ann and a champion dog called "Proctor Pride." She then reveals that she had accidentally hit Ann with her car on the night she ran away. She then cared for the dog, who had four pups, one of whom inherited Ann's bugle voice. Ann was eventually killed as she was chasing a fox running toward home. Camden also reveals that it was she who enabled Spring to be released by petitioning the governor. Finally, Camden and Benjy are free to start their life together and Spring looks forward to years of hunting with Ann's daughter, "Little Lady."