Come take a ride with me.
- Can you drive? - Drive? Not old enough.
Well, it's never too soon to start. Here. Getin.
Uh, l, I can't.
Come on. I don'thave all day.
Put the key in and turn it on.
- This one? - Mm-hmm.
Now, the rightpedal is the gas. The other one's the brake.
Uh, I don't think l, I can with my, uh, with my leg.
Well, there's only one way to find out. Now, putitin "D."
Now give it some gas.
Okay, we know you can.
Now you just gotta feel how much. Now give it... Try it again.
There you go.
Nice.
Real nice. Now there's a little road up at the end here. Turn onto it.
Now just follow this. Nothin' to it.
I'm gonna kinda close my eyes here for a little while...
so keep goin' till you run out of road.
Uh, l, l, I don't think I can.
It's not a question if you can. You are.
Where'd you getPilgrim from?
We boughthim in Kentucky.
Me and my mom took a trip down there to see him.
Well, thatmust've been special.
Yeah.
Are you afraid of anything, Tom Booker?
Oh, growin' old.
Notbein' much use.
Hey, Grace?
What went on out there with Pilgrim?
See, Grace, I got a problem.
When I work with a horse, I like to know its history.
Now most of the times, a horse, in its own way, can pretty much tell you the whole story...
but sometimes they get so messed up in their head that you need more to go on.
Now, I don'tknow how you feel about talkin' aboutit...
and if you don't feel like it, I understand.
Butif I'm gonna figure out what's goin' on in his head...
sure would help me if I understood exactly whathappened that day.
You know, not today. Whenever you feel like it.
I'll leave that up to you.
Uh-oh.
- The answer's no. - You haven't even heard the question yet.
Now, the truth is, you'd be doin' me a real favour.
I got all these young colts thatneed ridin'. Rimrock here, he's...
- I mean, he's feelin' kinda left out. - Poor thing.
He'd be grateful, and he'd take real good care with you.
- Is this how you're gonna make me pay my phone bill? - No. No, ma'am.
Thatpart's extra.
Oh, brought you a hat.
- Oh, I have a hat. - I know. I've seen it.
- I think my stirrups are too long, or... - No, they're fine. Justrelax your centre.
- Yeah. - Just sittin' in a bucket.
Well, it's all coming back, you know. I mean, I'll be fine.
Okay. Well, then I'll stop talkin' then.
No, I didn'tmean that. l... You know, I've never ridden western before.
- So... - Yeah, buthe doesn'tknow that. Just sit the horse.
- Yeah. - You have a nice seat. You're doin' fine.
Thank you.
- You look good. You feel okay? - Yeah.
- You wanna pick it up a little? - Yeah.
Watch your reins.
Give him some room. Lethim do the work.
- Okay? You okay? - Yep.
Let's go.
I envy your mother.
I do.
Itmustbe great to be her age...
and to be at the pointin life when you have no more guesswork.
No more impossible decisions to make.
And anyway, it doesn'tmatter because all the worries and all the wrong turns that you made...
are as valuable and as, as...
as cherished as the things that you did right.
l... Oh, itmustbe such a relief.
Mustbe such peace in that.
Well, I don't think you have to wait to be her age to find thatkind of peace.
Yeah, buthow would you know unless it was all behind you?
Do you have it?
Sometimes. Not all the time, but sometimes.
When?
Wakin' up on the ranch in the morning, knowin' whatl'm supposed to do that day.
Knowing I'm home.
I wake up every morning, and I don'tknow a damn thing. Was l...
Was I right to bring her here, away from what's familiar...
away from her father, her friends?
And the more I try and fix things, the more everything falls apart.
Maybe you should let'em fall.
- No, I can't. - Why?
Do you think I was right to come?
I can't answer that, Annie.
Well, I'll know soon enough. If I've made a mistake, Grace'll letme know.
She's a strong kid.
She gets that from somebody.
Thank you for all you're doing.
You and your family, letting us stay at the house.
It wasn't gettin' much use.
What was your wife like?
She had reddish hair.
Not, not quite. Almost. Depended on the light.
She had green eyes.
And when she played, that was it.
Something just wentright through me.
I'd never heard music like that played before.
And the way she looked when she played it.
And then one day, she looked atme that way, and that was it...
for both of us.
I knew she didn't want to be a rancher's wife, butl wanted to give it a try.
I thoughtmaybe she could give music lessons to the kids in town, the school maybe...
and that our kids would grow up with my brother's kids and play together.
But she wasn'thappy here.
"Too much space," she said.
- So why didn't you stay in Chicago? - Wasn't enough space.
It just wasn'tmeant to be.
Buthow did you know, for sure?
Knowing's the easy part. Saying it outloud's the hard part.
Mmm, seems so obvious now, doesn'tit?
"We weren'tright for each other. If only we knew then."
I didn'tlove her 'cause it was right.
I justloved her.
For whatever it's worth, Annie, took a lot of guts for you to come here.
Lift your leg.
Come on. Come on.
Hey, Joe.
Hi.
Would you letme ride your horse?
- Have you talked to Tom aboutit? - Of course I have.
I don'tknow. You sure Tom said it's all right?
You gonna give me a hand or what?
- You sure? - Come on.
Okay.
Easy. Hold it.
Okay.
Whoa.
Gotit. Gotit. I can do it.
Here.
Are you okay?
Hey!
You better not say anything!
I thought there were too many forks, so I just, um...
Oh. You look really pretty.
Thanks.
Does anybody want something to drink?
Shit!
Better go give your mom a hand.
Oh, yeah.
- Everything under control here? - Um, no, notreally.
Uh, it's been so long since I've done this.
I've forgotten. Uh, and I couldn't find any Parmesan cheese.
Well, you got an easy crowd out there, as long as it's hot.
Can I do anything?
Uh, justmake yourself comfortable.
I am comfortable.
Well, um, in that case you can bring in the pasta.
- You missed a button. - Thank you.
You know, I'll have another round of that spaghetti, if I may.
- Oh, of course. - Thank you.
l, uh, like the sauce. Maybe I could get the recipe.
- It's from a jar. - Oh.
Well, now, you know what?
l, uh, used jar sauce once. I don'tbelieve it was near as good as this.
- Isn't thatright, Frank? - No.
No. You know, I think you gotta know which brand to pick.
I sure would like the name of this one.
Annie, you've given me a rare night off.
Ooh, you're touchin' on a sore subjecthere.
Diane's got these big dreams in her head about gettin' away to...
- Gosh, what was it? Greece, Morocco? - Morocco.
One of these places where women wear masks and...
everybody's runnin' around in robes and...
- Well, we could use a vacation. - Mmm. We're going to Branson for the wedding.
- ltis not. You justhad a turn. - You don'tknow how to play the game.
- Hey! - Yes, I do.
- You do not. - Uh-huh.
You know, Frank. You know...
Branson, Missouri is not exactly Morocco.
I got family there. Gotno family in Morocco, far as I know.
- It's my turn. - Is not. - You had a turn.
- Was not. - Was so! - Boys, settle down.
- You're just showin' off for her. - Shut up, stupid.
-You're the only one who's stupid, lettin' her go and fall off your horse. -Hey, boys.
- Oh, you little turd. - I saw 'em in the pasture, her tryin' to get on Gonzo.
- Hey, boys! - I saw 'em. - Oh, you turd.
Joe!
- Did you go riding? - No!
- Get up off that floor. - Out you go. - Get outta here.
- Rightnow. Out the door. - Go on home now. - I didn't startit.
- My gosh! - Here, here. Joe, Joe. Hey. - Come on, let's go. Rightnow. Come on.
- Let's go. - What's the matter with you boys? - Annie, I'm so sorry.
They're just tired. We, we should just get'em home to bed.
- Say good night and thank you. - Annie, the dinner was delicious.
- Thank you so much. It was wonderful. - Thank you. You, say thank you.
- Thank you. - Joe, did Grace try to ride?
I expect you should talk to Grace about that, ma'am.
If I did anything wrong, I'm sorry.
Don'tlether turn you away.
Grace?
Is everything all right?
- Did you try riding again? - Yeah.
Does thatmean I'm cured?
Nobody's trying to cure you.
Look, I just wanna say I think it's great that you're riding again.
- And I think I know why you needed to... - Yeah, you know everything.
Stop it. Why won't you letme talk to you? Why are you so angry with me?
Whatever I do, it's wrong. Whatever I say, it's wrong.
Yeah? Well, now you know how it feels.
Look, l, I know that I'm hard on you sometimes.
- Right. - And I'm sorry if that makes you feel this way.
Butif I push you, it's only because I want...
Because if I'm the perfect daughter, thatmakes you the perfectmother, right?
I don't deserve that!
I don'tpush for me.
I push for you so that you don't spend half your life notknowing where you belong.
Yeah? Well, you've done a great job.
Yeah.
Who's ever gonna wantme like this?
Don't cry.
Who's ever gonna wantme like this? Nobody will.
I know it sometimes doesn't seem this way, butl do understand what, what you're feeling.
When I was your age, and when my, when my dad died...
I'd feltlike I'd lost everything and I'd be all alone, and...
And... Butl've got you.
I used to pray every night...
that you and Dad would have another kid...
so I wouldn'thave to be so, uh, special.
l, I know.
And I know how, how hard itmustbe to have lost your best friend...
and have your body be different than from how you'd like it to be.
But one day, somebody will look at this extraordinary woman that you're becoming and...
all they'll see is how much they love you.
That's all I see.
- Yep? - Hello, this is AT&T Conference Service.
- Is this Annie MacLean? - Yes.
I have a conference call scheduled for you with Mr Gottschalk and Mr Felton.
Mr Felton. Hold on, please.
Okay, I'm ready.
I've been waiting for you to come back.
Are you hungry?
Judith was, um, telling me about this boy.
I never even gothis name.
We were gonna go around the railroad bridge.
We were laughing about something. I don'tknow what.
And, um, her horse fell...
and Judith's foot was caughtin the stirrup.
And she was so scared.
And nextl saw this truck coming around the turn.
And it was honking, trying to get us to move.
And l, l-I tried to grab her reins and...
to gether horse to move out of the way.
And the truck started to skid.
And th-there was no time to do anything.
Itran rightinto Judith, and...
And she just disappeared.
And then it came atPilgrim and me.
And Pilgrim reared up at the truck.
And I fell off.
But Judith... Oh, God, Judith.
- I'm so sorry, Judith. - Grace.
Now, I'm not gonna tell ya it's gonna stop feelin' this bad.
Butl will tell you you didn't do anything wrong.
The same thing could've happened to me...
or to Frank or to Joey.
And it doesn'tmake any sense to try to figure out why these things happen.
There was a boy from the Blackfeetreservation.
He used to do some work around here for a while.
Sixteen, strong kid, good kid.
He and I were really, really good friends.
One day he went swimmin' and dove headfirstinto the lake...
and rightinto a rock.
And it snapped his neck, paralysed him.
And after the accident...
I'd look in on him from time to time.
Buthe wasn't there.
It was like his mind, his spirit, whatever you want to call it, just disappeared.
The only thing left was just anger.
Just sort of as if the...
the boy I once knew just went somewhere else.
I know where he goes.
I know you do.
Don't you disappear.
You do whatever you have to do to hold on.
I'll tell you one more thing.
You know when Pilgrim reared up against that truck?
You know whatl think?
I think that damned horse loved you so much he was tryin' to protect you.
That's whatl think.
- How did you getlike this? - No, no, no. Get up.
Letme show you.
- Wanna see it again? - Yep.
- Can you do it without smiling? - Yep.
No, you can't. Notpossible. I can feel the muscles right...
- Try me. - I can feel the muscles right...
Mustbe nice to have a few days off work, huh?
Yeah. Yeah.
It's more than a few days, though. I'm not an editor anymore.
- First time I said it outloud. - They fired ya?
No, no. It's more like a...
Yeah. They fired me.
- You don't seem too upset aboutit. - Delayed shock.
Or maybe not.
I'm sure I can talk my way back in there or get another magazine someplace.
Butmaybe I don't... Well, I'm just not sure l... I'm not sure I want to.
Well, I guess you don'thave to figure it out till you gethome.
- See, when you hitlike a windmill... - Yeah.
it's not gonna do any good.
Butif you hit down, like you can hit a golf club...
come back down, down into it.
Did you always know this is the life you wanted?
Well, I was a rancher's daughter.
I guess it's not too far to go to becomin' a rancher's wife. Yeah.
Yeah. Frank's a good man.
Oh, they don't come better.
I don't deny there are times I think about all the things I won'thave.
Maybe I'll get to see Morocco. Probably not.
Did Tom have many girlfriends after his divorce?
Hey, look, Annie, I'm not good at this sort of talk.
Goes around and round somethin', and never gets to it, so let's just say whatitis.
Tom means so much to this family.
Don't you go lookin' here for whatever itis you're lookin' for.
Don'tmake thatman go through somethin' that took him so long...
to see his way clear of in the firstplace.
I don't think Tom would do anything he didn't want to do.
Yeah. He's a good man.
Ooh, he's got a gift. Comes from heaven above, I swear.
Buthe's still just a man.
Bitter raindrops glisten
On the painted Injun flower
Honey child, the mornin'
Loves you true
The muddy road is brown and still
As far as you can see
Honey child, the noontime is...
Couldn't, um...
There's something I need to know.
Are you sure?
Gotta getback.
Dad?
Dad!
- Diane. It's a pleasure. Welcome. - Diane.
- Hello. Frank. - Hello, Frank.
- This is our oldestboy, Joe. - Hi, Joe.
- And, and this is Mr Booker. - Tom.
- Hi, Tom. - It's a pleasure.
And I want to thank you for the way you took in my girls here.
I can already see a difference in them. Very grateful to you.
Dad? Dad, did you notice? No cane.
I know. It's amazing.
- Could we show him Pilgrim, Tom? - You bet.
- Let's go get your bags. - Need a hand, Annie?
- Yep. - See you later.
So at this pointl'm, I'm pretty sure I'm lost.
So I stopped by this general store and ask if anyone knows the Booker ranch.
And this, this nice, uh, older gentleman with a bandage on his head...
uh, gave me directions.
- Sweet Jesus. That's Henry Vanoker. - Oh.
I'm surprised you didn't wind up in Mexico.
Well, once when, uh, Dad was in India, he, he gotlost...
way, way up in these mountains.
And when he finally found his way back, everyone said thathe had discovered a new route.
And they redid all the maps.
Well, now how'd you end up in India, Robert?
Oh, this is right after college. I was in the Peace Corps.
Well, that's where he metMom.
Hey, tell 'em about when, uh, Mom wentlooking for Tubab.
- No, honey, l... - Oh, Dad! Come on, Dad.
Uh, well, Mom was a writer, and, um, Dad knows the rest.
- Come on. - She was a journalist for an English periodical.
- Uh, what was it called? - Cambridge Monthly.
Right. And she decided to go to India all by herself withoutknowing a soul.
Uh, she had no place to stay, but she was, she was told to look up Tubab.
- Tubab? - She comes to my door...
suitcase and typewriter...
and asks where Tubab is, and I said, "Righthere."
And she said, "You're Tubab?" I said, "No, my name is Robert.
Tubab means white man, and yes, I am."
And that was how we met.
Small bed. Maybe I should sleep in the barn.
You're allergic to hay.
l, I apologize for the surprise.
- But the days only opened yesterday, and I figured that... - You don'thave to apologize.
You have every right to be here.
You were right to bring her here.
Well, there've been plenty of times I wasn't so sure.
Mustbe tired, huh?
Yeah.
And then outhere, not far from this, I'll show you the, uh, bulls...
- Sorry about that. - Oh, that's okay.
- I can'tbelieve it's the same horse. - We still have a ways to go.
So, uh, how much longer do you think?
Like I told your wife, it's really up to Pilgrim.
Uh-huh.
- Dad, will you come dance? Please, Dad. - All right.
Daylighthas found me
Here again
You can ask me anything
But where I've been
You should know the reason
Why I called
I was lookin' for
A softplace to fall
Lookin' for a softplace
Nothin' more than a small taste
Of a love that ended
Long ago
Lookin' for a place to hide
A warm bed on a cold night
I didn'tmean to hurt you
No, no, no
Lookin' out your window
At the dawn
Baby, when you wake up
I'll be gone
You're the one who taughtme
After all
How to find a softplace
To fall
- The summer is really very brief. - Oh, there's no time at all.
After I doctor those fellas, do you wantme to put them in the upper or lower pasture?
- Well, upper. - Okay.
That's very short, very short.
You grew up here? This is, this is where you're from?
l, I wasn'tborn here, butl've always...
- The winter is real... - I asked Annie. Of course she didn'tknow.
- What do you do? - Well, of course that's the time we gotta feed cattle...
and hope the majority of 'em survive the summer here.
Is this how it's gonna be now, hmm?
You don't speak to me? We don't speak to each other?
Well, I'm speaking to you now, so say something.
- No. - Why?
- I can't getin the middle of this. - Well, I'm afraid you are in the middle of this.
- He's a good man, Annie. - I never said he wasn't. I can't change the way I feel.
- You gotta figure out what you want. - Do you know what you want?
I do know whatl want. And I'm tryin' real hard not to getlostin this.
I never expected to feel this way again.
Annie, this is where I belong. This is who I am.
Is this what you want?
Yeah.
Are you sure?
Yeah.
Can you tell that to your family? To Robert? To Grace?
If you had a chance to go home and change things, would you?
You can't ask me that. It's not that simple.
Itis.
It's not fair.
No, it's not fair.
There's something you gotta do tomorrow, boy.
He'll be okay, Grace. Justhang on there a minute or two.
Tom will gethim all right.
- What are you doing? - Gonna have to do somethin' different, Grace.
It's not gonna hurthim, right?
Nothing we've done has hurthim.
Grace, this is Pilgrim's chance, and it's yours, too.
Okay.
Lethim get everything ready. Come on, Grace.
Come along.
That's enough! Stop!
- Grace, this is where you come in. - No.
Come on.
Okay, I want you to get down here, Grace.
- Grace, I want you to come over here and sitnext to me. - But...
- But, why, why would he letme... - Grace, look athim.
Look athim.
He's okay. And you never did anything to lethim down.
- No. - Grace, listen to me. - No, I can't.
Grace, you've gotta do this.
Trustme just one more time.
- Do what? - I want you to come over here and sitnext to me.
Startrighthere where the neck is and the head, and I want you to stroke him.
I want you to rub him and feel him all over.
That's it.
That's it. Go on ahead.
Grace.
Now we're going to show Pilgrim here how to help you get on him.
Because, you see, there's a point where neither of you is gonna need me anymore.
And we're there.
I'm not askin'. Put your leg over the saddle here.
That a girl.
Now, we're gonna rock him up.
Oh.
- Dad. - Honey, you were wonderful.
Hey there! Gettin' ready to go home, are ya?
Mm-hmm. Is Tom around?
No, he went to Sheridan to get some horses. He leftlastnight.
Um, when's he coming back?
Oh, I don'trightly know.
Letme know when you need some help loadin' Pilgrim, okay?
Yeah.
- What time's your flight? - 12:15.
The Bookers want to leave for the airportby 9:30.
Sure you want to drive Pilgrim back?
Well, I already know the way, and it's notlike I have a job to rush home to.
To tell you the truth, I could use the time alone.
- When are you planning to start? - Oh, I guess I'll leave when you and Grace go.
May I make a suggestion?
What?
Take your time.
What's the matter? You look like there's something wrong.
I'll tell you something, Annie.
I stood there looking at thathorse, and I swear I feltlike the same thing was happening to me.
And I have two choices.
I can either fight the way things are...
or accept them.
See, um...
I always knew I loved you more.
Didn'tbother me.
I guess I feltkind of lucky, a little amazed that...
a woman like you would want to be with a man like me.
And I guess I thoughtif I could do everything right... If I could...
If I was the besthusband I could be, the best father...
even, even being a good lawyer only mattered because of whatitmeant for us.
If I could do all that...
it wouldn'tmake any difference if we loved each other the same or not.
I didn't ask for more.
I told myself I didn'tneed any more.
But...
the truth is, you don'tknow how you feel aboutme.
You don'tknow if you want a life with me anymore.
And the truth is...
I don't want you to come home until you do know...
one way or the other.
Okay?
- Thanks, Joe. - Yep.
Goodbye, Annie. Good luck to ya.
Thank you. And, and you, too.
- All right, everybody in. Frank, we all set? - I believe so.
- I can'tbelieve he's nothere to say goodbye. - Oh, he probably gotheld up is all.
No, sweetie. The truth is, he's notreal good at goodbyes.
You know, come to think of it, not too good athellos either.
Frank.
- You ready? - Just a second.
- When will you be home? - Oh, in a few days.
I'll miss you.
Well, if I getlost, you know where to send the search party.
Could be just about anywhere.
I'll call you, okay?
- Bye. - Bye.
He goin' back inside the trailer or runnin' alongside it?
I just wanted to be here when you left.
I don't want to leave you.
I don't want you to.
Just a few more days.
- And then? - Oh.
Why did this happen?
I don't ask those questions, Annie. And I didn't ask to love you, butl do.
Oh!
I'll always have that with me.
Tom.
Can we go for one lastride, hmm?
Yeah. I'll saddle 'em up.