Back to Cold Mountain ( Cold Mountain ) is an American film directed by Anthony Minghella released in 2003 ; it is from the book of the same title written by Charles Frazier in 1997. Located during the American Civil War , it tells the story of Ada who settles on a farm with his father, and Inman, a simple worker who undertakes under the flags alongside the Confederates . The day before leaving for Inman’s front, the two young people fall passionately in love.