The Yearling

Shortly after the American Civil War, rebel soldier Penny Baxter (Gregory Peck) and his wife, Ory (Jane Wyman), become farmers pioneering in Florida. When the father has to kill a deer to use the organs to draw blood out of a rattlesnake bite, his son Jody (Claude Jarman Jr.) asks to keep the doe's yearling as a pet and raise it. This adds to Ory's stress, as she is still haunted by the loss of her other children in the war and does not want another life to take care of. As the deer grows and begins to cause damage to the crops, Jody must come to grips with the ways of nature and maturity.