Once discovered it was changed forever.... In the early years of the 17th century North America is much as it has been for the previous five thousand years-a vast land of seemingly endless primeval wilderness populated by an intricate network of tribal cultures. Although these nations live in graceful harmony with their environment their relations with each other are a bit more uneasy. All it will take to upset the balance is an intrusion from the outside. One is not long in coming. On a spring day in April of 1607 three diminutive ships bearing 103 men sail into this world from their unimaginably distant home the island kingdom of England. Shackled below deck is a rebellious 27 year old John Smith (Farrell) sentenced to be hanged for insubordination as soon as the ship reaches land. A veteran of countless European wars Smith is a soldier of fortune - though fortune has often turned its back on him. However his Captain Christopher Newport (Plummer) frees him as he knows surviving in this unknown wilderness will require the services of every able-bodied man. Though they don't realize it at the time Newport and his band of British settlers have landed in the midst of a sophisticated Native American empire ruled by the powerful chieftain Powhatan (Schellenberg). To the colonists it may be a new world. But to Powhatan and his people it is an ancient world - and the only one they have ever known. The English strangers in a strange land struggle from the beginning to fend for themselves. Smith searching for assistance from the local tribesmen chances upon a willful and impetuous young woman Powhatan's daughter Pocahontas. Before long a bond develops between Smith and Pocahontas a bond so powerful that it transcends friendship or even romance - and eventually becomes the basis of one of the most enduring American legends of the past 400 years.... The New World is an epic adventure set amid the encounter of European and Native American cultures during the founding of the Jamestown settlement in 1607. Inspired by the legend of John Smith and Pocahontas acclaimed filmmaker Terrence malick transforms this classic story into a sweeping exploration of love loss and discovery both a celebration and an elegy of the America that was - and the America that was yet to come.