THE ENDS OF THE EARTH

by
Chris Terrio

Based on the life of Lydie Roberts Marland

October 30, 2007

Escape Artists
10202 W. Washington Blvd.
Astaire Bldg., 3rd Fl.
Culver City, CA 90232
OVER A BLACK SCREEN.

VOICE OF GERALD FORD

As we begin our Bicentennial,
America is still one of the
youngest nations in recorded
history.

INT. MARRIOTT, WASHINGTON D.C. - NIGHT (1976)

SCENES around the hotel at night. LAUNDRY WOMEN toss bunched

white sheets into industrial washing machines. A JANITOR mops
the marble floor of the lobby. A BELLBOY hits the glass of a
vending machine in the break room: his bag of potato chips is
stuck mid-fall.

VOICE OF GERALD FORD

Long before our forefathers came to
these shores, men and women had
been struggling on this planet to
forge a better life for themselves
and their families.

INT. MARRIOTT, WASHINGTON D.C, LAFAYETTE SUITE - CONTINUOUS

A COCKTAIL PARTY is winding down. Piano jazz and black-tie

POLITICOS saying their goodbyes. The tasteful catering in the
room has a patriotic theme. A TELEVISION plays, inaudible, in
the background. Its DAN RATHER interviewing a TALKING HEAD
in anticipation of a big speech.

VOICE OF GERALD FORD

In man's long, upward march from
savagery and slavery, one peak
stands highest in the ranges of
human history. That is the United
States of America.

A MAID (70s) enters the suite. Quietly, with the practiced

invisibility of hotel workers. A MAN IN BLACK TIE at the
door, the partys host, says something to her thats
inaudible underneath the party sounds, and points her toward
the bathroom. She pushes her cart there.

At the suites bathroom: a POLITICAL WIFE, drunker than is

prudent at these things, balances herself on the door-frame.
She looks the MAID in the face and walks away toward her
husband, who is waiting with her FUR COAT.
 2.

INT. HOTEL BATHROOM - CONTINUOUS

The MAID enters the bathroom. Champagne glasses on the sink.

Vomit fills the toilet to the lid, and is all over the floor.

As she surveys the room, we get a better look at the MAID.

Severely wrinkled and missing most of her front teeth. Gray
hair, large drooping eyes. Shes in bad shape.

VOICE OF GERALD FORD

I am proud of America, and I am
proud to be an American. Life will
be a little better here for my
children than for me.

Now, while Fords voice plays: The MAID uses a plunger to

unclog the toilet. Now shes on her hands and knees scrubbing
the vomit from the floor. Using a toilet brush vigorously.
Tossing a broken glass in a plastic bag. Two used condoms
into the bag. Squirting disinfectant. Aerosol de-odorizer.
Washing her sponge and brushes in the bathtub. Scrubbing the
bathtub.

INT. MARRIOTT, WASHINGTON D.C, LAFAYETTE SUITE - TEN MINUTES

LATER

Guests gone, the Maid is cleaning up the room.

She removes dirty plates from on top of the television and,

in the foreground, we see the source of the voice weve been
hearing. Its: *PRESIDENT GERALD FORD, giving the 1976 State
of the Union address to Congress, on CBS.

GERALD FORD (ON T.V.)

We have not remade paradise on
Earth. We know perfection will not
be found here. But think for a
minute how far we have come in 200
years. It has happened here in
America. It has happened to you and
to m--

The sound of the MAIDs vacuum drowns out the voice of the
President.

CUT TO BLACK.

Presentation credits.
 3.

INT. HOTEL HALLWAY - A FEW MINUTES LATER

The MAID is waiting for an elevator. Trashbags from the pre-

speech party hang off her cart.

Washington, D.C. Winter, 1976.

The MAIDs reflection parts in the middle of the metallic

doors as an elevator arrives. Inside it is a MAN in his 70s,
carrying a briefcase.

Maid steps forward, realizes the elevator is occupied, and

steps back (that is, Ill get the next one.)

But she glances up and her eyes meet those of the Man. A
moment. He stares at her. Hes seeing a ghost.

The doors start to close. He steps forward.

MAN
Excuse me --

The doors have closed. The silver elevator now reflects the
Maids image back to her again and she looks at herself.
Paralyzed.

She turns and hurries down the hall with her cart. Going
anywhere that is away from the elevator. Fast. Then, a loud
voice behind her.

MAN (O.S.)
WAIT. Excuse me!

Hes coming through the FIRE-STAIRS DOOR. She turns a corner.

His FOOTSTEPS, urgent. Hes close behind. She takes her
master key from a ring on her apron. Opens the door to a
SUPPLY CLOSET. Goes inside.

INT. SUPPLY CLOSET - NIGHT

Locks the door. Its dark in here. Stacks of white towels,

small shampoo bottles, soap. The Maid is catching her breath.

RAP. Shes startled by a firm knocking on the closet door.

MAN (O.S.)
Hello? Hello.

Shes trying not to breathe. More knocking.

MAN (O.S.)
(quieter)
Can you open the door?
 4.

Then the knocking stops. Hes gone away?

No. A note, scrawled on a piece of Mariott paper, slips under

the door. The Maid looks down at it.

It says: IS YOUR NAME LYDIE?

Now shes shaking. She lowers herself to the ground, in the

darkness.

Hold there.

TRAIN CONDUCTOR (O.S.)

Hey! Syour name Lydie? HEY!

CUT TO:

INT. TRAIN - MORNING

TRAIN CONDUCTOR (O.S.)

IS YOUR NAME LYDIE ROBERTS?

A TRAIN CONDUCTOR with a handlebar moustache is speaking to a

lump of clothing in the shape of a girl. The lump has pulled
her clothes over her head and is holding on to the seat. She
doesnt answer.

TRAIN CONDUCTOR
SPEAK UP!

Still doesnt answer. The Train Conductor pulls her forward,

yanks her dress down. Looks at a tag that has been pinned to
her dress, identifying her: LYDIE ROBERTS. DEST: MR. ERNEST
MARLAND. ARCADE HTL. PONCA CITY, OKLA TERR.

This is LYDIE, age 5. A small girl. Beautiful, though her

seriousness would keep you from calling her cute. Shes dirty
and wears a dress that looks like shes worn it every day for
a month, or six.

She holds a FEATURELESS DOLL (home-sewn, a blank face) tight

to her chest.

TRAIN CONDUCTOR
Time to get off. Lets go!

He pulls her firmly. She doesnt relent.

He grabs her by the waist forcibly to pick her up. Hard

enough to bruise her. She struggles and, realizing hes
stronger, she BITES him.

He recovers and SLAPS her in the face.

 5.

She stares down at the ground, stoically. A purple hand-

shaped mark across her cheek.

EXT. TRAIN PLATFORM, OKLAHOMA - MORNING

Super: Cherokee Outlet, Oklahoma Indian Territory. 1906.

A train station, no more than a platform in the middle of the

plains. A couple of hastily constructed buildings and some
roads leading away.

Train Conductor pushes Lydie forward. A Coach Driver, 40s, is

chewing tobacco.

TRAIN CONDUCTOR
(to a Coach Driver)
Goddamn animal! Little bitch bit
me!

Shows his marked arm. Conductor raises a hand to Lydie. She

doesnt flinch.

TRAIN CONDUCTOR
(to Coach Driver)
Will you drop her in town?

Coach Driver nods. Lydie, holding a suitcase and her DOLL.

TRAIN CONDUCTOR
That gets infected, Im gonna track
you down and do for you, girl. Ill
do for you!

The Coach Driver manages Lydie toward his waiting horse-drawn

coach, where two other PASSENGERS are waiting.

EXT. ROAD TO PONCA CITY - DAY

Lydie sits in a horse-drawn coach with the other passengers,

who look at her.

She looks over the side. Plains and prairie. Cottonwood and
elm trees. And construction. Men building fences.

A hand-painted billboard of a cowboy in a rodeo, advertising:

MILLER BROS 101 RANCH REAL WILD WEST SHOW!

A couple of PONCA INDIANS on horses. They are dressed in a

hybrid of native and European clothing: loincloths over
trousers, holding black London-style umbrellas over their
heads.
 6.

Now, were entering town. Its the set of a John Ford

Western. Ponca City, Oklahoma Territory. The only twentieth-
century flourish is the line of telegraph poles down Main
Street.

The coach pulls over at a two-story building with a widows

walk and the sign ARCADE.

INT. ARCADE HOTEL LOBBY - DAY

A steamer trunk is heaved onto a pile. The sweaty HOTEL

MANAGER, 40s, is trying to organize dozens of pieces of
luggage as he speaks to the Coach Driver.

HOTEL MANAGER
(as he piles bags)
Well I dont know why because I
sent the tellie myself. The aunts
upstairs but shes bed-ridden with
pneumonia or some goddamn thing,
and the uncles away. We told them
dont send her.
(then, a thought)
Her uncles working out in the Red
Beds, three hours ride. Theres a
3:30 from the Cross if youre
quick.

Coach Driver pushes Lydie forward and hurries out. Hotel

Manager goes back to the luggage.

We linger on the stairs of the hotel. A woman in a shawl,

30s, is watching the scene. We will later recognize her as
VIRGINIA MARLAND.

EXT. OIL FIELD - DUSK

A coach arrives at a work-site carrying a dozen LABORERS. The

men are dusty and leather-skinned, would make Dorothea Lange
portraits look like glamor photos.

EXT. OIL FIELD - DUSK

The field foreman, SPOT BENNETT, 27, is counting out the

number of workers needed as they come off a coach.

BENNETT
Three, four, five ...
(to a Young Hand, who is
maybe 14)
Hold. You done rig before?
 7.

YOUNG HAND
Two seasons in Tunk Field, sir.

He nods and waves the Young Worker on.

BENNETT
Six, seven ...

Bennett looks onto the coach, and noticing the small girl
behind the couple of remaining workers..

He climbs into the wagon, looks at the note and envelope

pinned to her dress.

EXT. OIL FIELD - MOMENTS LATER

The noise of an OIL DERRICK. Its deafening. Details of the

machinery, plumbing the depths of the earth for buried
treasure.

Lydie watches Bennett go to confer with a MAN IN A COWBOY HAT

who is dangling from the top of the derrick tower, blackened
with grease, attending to some mechanical problem.

The conversation, although shouted, is inaudible over the

noise of the well and plays out in pantomime. Bennett hands
Cowboy Hat the envelope that was pinned to Lydie.

Bennett points at Lydie, and Cowboy Hat takes a long look at

her. Then he orders Bennett toward her.

Bennett returns to Lydie, takes her hand, leads her toward an

ENCAMPMENT OF TENTS.

EXT. THE OIL FIELDS - DUSK

The whistle that signifies the end of the work day. Men
descend from the wells, jumping one after another. Its a
kind of ballet, dark figures descending from towers as far as
the eye can see.

EXT. ENCAMPMENT - EVENING

Cowboy Hat splashes water on his face.

BENNETT (O.S.)
Dint say a word all day.

Cowboy Hat dries his face with a rag.

 8.

COWBOY HAT
Shes terrified.
(taking the envelope from
his pocket; to Bennett)
Her mother didnt even tell her
where she was going. Packed her off
in Pittsburgh while she slept.

INT. TENT - NIGHT

The flap of the tent opens and Cowboy Hat enters, holding a
lantern in one hand and a single pear flower in the other.

Now that we get a better look at him, Cowboy Hat is 30;

ruggedly handsome; covered in dust.

He looks at the cot where Lydie should be. Its empty.

He scans the room. An untouched dinner tray. A moth

fluttering around a lamp. Shes gone.

But now he sees something move very slightly.

Its Lydie. Sitting on the floor, next to an apple crate. She

is covered to her head with a blanket, looking down and
almost imperceptibly rocking back and forth. Her Featureless
Dolls head sticks out along with hers.

Cowboy Hat pulls up an apple crate and sits in front of her.

She doesnt look up.

COWBOY HAT
It was a rude welcome you got and
Im sorry. Im Ernie Marland. Im
your uncle.

He offers her the pear flower. She still doesnt look up. He
withdraws it. Cowboy Hat, hereafter ERNEST, speaks quickly,
unsentimentally.

ERNEST
I dont know how to talk to
children so Im just gonna talk how
I talk.
(then, quietly)
What were lookin ats this. Your
mother loves you a great deal but
she can no longer afford to take
care of you. Your aunt and I cant
have children but we can afford to.
So your mothers decided to
terminate her parental rights and
send you to live with us.
 9.

Lydie looks at the ground.

ERNEST
Now, I know you and me arent blood
kin and this looks like a bad hand.
Youll have a mind to run away and
I dont blame you. I want to run
away from home myself half the
time.

Still nothing. Shes stone.

ERNEST
Point is, were very happy to have
you here and were going to look
after you like you were ours.

He offers his hand, but she doesnt move. Now Ernest notices
the dinner tray on the table shes crouching near. There is a
fork and spoon, which are untouched. Next to them, a knife.

In the glow from the lanterns, he can see theres BLOOD on

the knife that has rubbed onto a white napkin CLOTH. But the
meat on the plate is uncut.

Ernest looks at Lydie. He goes forward and pulls the blanket

off her.

Lydies arms are red with blood. SHE HAS CUT HER ARMS in two
dozen places and she is bleeding.

ERNEST
Oh my God. Oh my God oh my God.

CUT TO:

LATER. By candlelight.

DOCTOR
Mrs. Rhoades has brought up six of
her own, shed take good care of
her --

ERNEST
(end of discussion)
Shell stay here.

Ernest looks back at Lydie, who is asleep and bandaged. She

is holding her Featureless Doll, which is stained with her
blood.

ERNEST
She doesnt leave my sight til
shes healed. Thank you, Doctor.
 10.

Doctor hesitates, opens his mouth to speak. But Ernest is

holding the entrance flap of the tent open. The Doctor
shrugs, leaves. Ernest looks at the sleeping Lydie, then
follows the Doctor out.

When they have left, Lydie opens her eyes.

EXT. THE OIL FIELDS - DAWN

The sun casts the long shadows of the derricks on the fields.

Ernest takes Lydies hand and walks her to the encampment

near the derricks. She is wearing a MANs SHIRT tailored with
scissors, long sleeves to cover her bandages.

Ernest sits her on an apple box and puts two thick books in
her hands: Audobons Birds of America, volumes one and two.

EXT. OIL FIELD - MORNING

Men in line, being served breakfast by a COOK.

Nearby, on her apple box, now outfitted with a makeshift sun-

shelter around it, is Lydie. She looks at the men.

The Cook is heaping potatoes on the Riggers plate.

RIGGER
(looking past the Cook, at
Lydie)
Girls the goddamn Grim Reaper. Sat
starin at us all yesterdy too.
Dont talk, dont smile.

The person behind them, who has overheard them, is ERNEST.

ERNEST
(holding out two plates to
be served)
Seems to me most peoples smiles
are a lot of cowshit, dont you
think?

The Cook dishes out food to Ernest.

RIGGER
Course, Mr. Marland. Yes, sir.

He smiles at Ernest, then decides he shouldnt smile. Then

turns away.
 11.

EXT. ENCAMPMENT - MORNING

Ernest puts down a plate for himself and one for Lydie. Hes
brought her to a table to eat with him and Bennett. He looks
over Lydies shoulder: two MEN ON HORSEBACK are approaching.

The Men on Horseback are Indians. Chief White Eagle, 60s,

dressed in a cowboy hat and a European-style coat, is
attended by WILLIE CRIES-FOR-WAR (known as Willie Cries), 25,
his translator.

The Indians look at the rigs as they approach.

Ernest and Bennett stand. The Indians dismount.

ERNEST
Good morning. Offer you some
breakfast?

White Eagle and Willie Cries look at the potatoes and oozing
stew on their plates. Cries shakes his head and Ernest
gestures for them to sit.

ERNEST
(gesturing at her)
My niece, Lydie.

White Eagle and Willie Cries look at her.

WILLIE CRIES
(to Ernest)
Chief White Eagle regrets that he
comes today to revoke his
hospitality.

ERNEST
(thrown)
Did you get my letter? I asked if
he could just be patient --

White Eagle speaks to Willie Cries in PONCA, their tribal

dialect, and Cries translates.

WILLIE CRIES
This Chief feels hes been more
than patient. He reminds Mr.
Marland that you are standing on
land that is sacred to the tribe.

Cries talks back to White Eagle, who in turn speaks fervently

in Ponca; Cries relays to Ernest. Lydie stares at the
Indians.
 12.

WILLIE CRIES
This Chief told you that drilling
here was making bad medicine. You
told this Chief there would be
profits for him. He must not remind
Mr. Marland that there is no rock
oil and there are no profits.

ERNEST
Well, not yet, but were--

White Eagle is speaking passionately.

WILLIE CRIES
This Chief says the reason theres
no oil is that the earth doesnt
want the rivers underground
disturbed. He informs Mr. Marland
that he is ending the lease now.

ERNEST
(under his breath)
Oh Jesus Christ --

He stands, then regains composure, sits.

ERNEST
Tell him that weve come upon an
anticline, which always means crude
beneath. Almost always, 90 percent
guaranteed. Now, thats not a
hunch, thats science.
(to the Chief, miming a 45-
degree angle)
Rocks. Pfffwwwwww!

That is, a childs approximation of a spurt of oil. Bennett

raises his eyebrows. Chief remains unmoved.

ERNEST
(turning to Willie Cries,
desperate, quiet)
Willie. My friend. Every penny I
have is sunk into this. We can work
the rigs through the night, 24
hours, I just need another month, I
promise --

Cries turns and translates this for the Chief, who says
something in Ponca.

Then, unexpectedly, the Chief leans over the table and

touches Lydies face. Lydie stares back, emotionless.
 13.

Cries looks at White Eagle, surprised, and responds in Ponca.

White Eagle speaks back, then indicates for Cries to
translate.

WILLIE CRIES
This Chief says he will extend your
option for two weeks. But its not
for you he does this. Its for your
niece.

Ernest takes a breath, smiles at the Chief.

ERNEST
Thank you, sir. Thank you.

Now White Eagle stands and walks a few yards away. Willie
Cries nods to Ernest and Bennett, and walks after him. When
theyve gone:

BENNETT
90 percent guaranteed, huh?

ERNEST
Whad you want me to tell him? That
we were going after a mouse in a
haystack with a harpoon?

CUT TO:

A short distance away, White Eagle is kneeling in the soil.

Lowers his head to the ground. Willie Cries watches, and
Ernest comes alongside him.

WILLIE CRIES
(by way of apology for the
spectacle)
Hes asking the earth for
forgiveness.
(a beat)
Hes a foolish old man. He doesnt
see yet that all the old things are
already dead.

White Eagle puts dirt on his face.

ERNEST
Why did he change his mind for my
niece?

WILLIE CRIES
Just some nonsense.
 14.

White Eagles actions are creating a scene among the MEN. A

few of the Field Workers, making their way toward their
stations, point and watch, some laughing.

WILLIE CRIES
Our tribe arent from this place,
Mr. Marland. We were evicted from
home and marched here by soldiers
forty years ago.

White Eagle on his knees, intoning to himself.

WILLIE CRIES
This Chief says the Ponca are
ghosts because were always
searching for home, but now well
never find it. Not in this world.

Chief bows down again, hiding his face.

WILLIE CRIES
When he looked at your niece, he
said he could see she was a ghost
like us.

Ernest looks over at Lydie.

WILLIE CRIES
I told you. Just some nonsense.

Cries nods to Ernest and goes to the Chief.

A beat. Then Ernest approaches Lydie, takes her by the hand,

and leads her back toward her apple box in the field.

EXT. THE OIL FIELDS - NIGHT

A gramophone is playing a song -- Im Tying the Leaves So

They Dont Come Down. A dog is barking at the phonograph.

We move past a poker game in progress.

FIELDHAND
Youll raise shit, yaint got shit
left to bet with!

The crew is working through the night.

There are kerosene lamps illuminating each of the oil

derricks.

In the lower framework of the tower, a DRUNK MAN sleeps. Its

so loud here, its a wonder he can.
 15.

One of the Field Workers stokes a cooking fire a few meters

away.

Suddenly, an unfamiliar SCREECH from the well.

The cooking fire FLARES up ten feet in the air. GAS. Which
precedes oil deposits.

The man sleeping in the tower is jolted awake.

EXT. CAMP NEAR THE OIL FIELDS - NIGHT

Ernest and Lydie are in cots near each other, sleeping under
the stars.

A high-pitched whistle then piercing SCREAMS can be heard

from the direction of the wells, startling Ernest, then
Lydie, awake.

ERNEST
Stay here.

He takes his RIFLE from underneath his cot and goes to

investigate.

EXT. THE OIL FIELDS - NIGHT

The screams are screams of joy.

RIGGER 2
LAMPS! LAMPS! LAMPS!

Two BUCKET BOYS are pouring water on the kerosene lamps which
are flaring up dangerously with the release of gas.

Now the scene is lit only by moonlight. The SCREECH

continues, deafening. A couple of the men turn and turn and
turn a pipe with a giant wrench.

In a moment, the well is SPURTING OIL from the top.

A sleeping giant is awake. The oil GUSHES down to the dry

ground in thick rivers.

The wind picks up the spray so that a thin black mist spreads
over the entire camp, now awake and celebrating.

When Ernest arrives, faces are already painted black by the

spray. Fire and primal howls. A pagan rite.

Ernest puts down his rifle and closes his eyes.

 16.

The DOG, also turning black, doesnt know whether to bark at

the still-spinning gramophone or at the more colossal event
nearby.

And now LYDIE, against orders, appears next to Ernest. He

doesnt notice her.

She takes his hand.

He looks down at her. Then picks her up and lifts her to the
sky, getting her as soaked in oil as he is.

He swings her around fast, dizzy... until she SHRIEKS. Its

the first sound shes made in the film and, for the first
time, she is smiling.

EXT. THE OIL FIELDS - DAY (A WEEK LATER)

Ernest is now cleaned up, looking respectable. Cars have

pulled up and DISTINGUISHED OLD MEN are congratulating him.

Ernest looks to the side. His POV: Lydie sits with Audobons
Birds, the Plains behind her.

ERNEST (V.O.)
My dear wife, Im writing today
with more good news.

INT. TENT - NIGHT

ERNEST (V.O.)
The wildcat has held at 5,000
barrels and the surveyers say its
a sure gusher.

Ernest writes by candlelight. The camera moves past him and

the following MONTAGE happens during Ernests letter:

EXT. ARCADE HOTEL - DAY

A 1906 Ford Model N stops in front of the hotel. Out step

Ernest and Lydie.

ERNEST (V.O.)
Lydie is improving every day. She
turned 6 last week, making her the
same age as the century.

Waiting at the door is VIRGINIA MARLAND, 32, pale and pretty.

She shakes Lydies hand, and Lydie hands her field flowers.
 17.

ERNEST (V.O.)
She calls me Father now, soon
shell call you Mother.

INT. ARCADE HOTEL - DAY

A GOVERNESS takes off Lydies dress.

Lydie is in a bathtub, having her hair washed. The bathtub

water turns black with dirt and oil.

Lydie appears at the door of the DINING ROOM of the hotel.

Scrubbed, dressed, hair combed and neat.

INT. PONCA CITY HALL - DAY

A hand slides papers across a table and we pan up to Ernest,

Virginia, and Lydie, standing between them.

They are signing adoption papers.

EXT. FIELD - DAY

Lydie is sitting at a desk that has been set up in a field.

With her TUTOR, a woman in her 50s.

ERNEST (O.S.)
One of the fieldhands calls
Oklahoma the Garden of Eden,
because the only history here is
the memory of us who live here now.

TUTOR
Je prends.

LYDIE
Je prends.

INT. PHOTO STUDIO - DAY

C.U. of a FLASH POLE. It ignites, flashes, and smokes. A

PHOTOGRAPHER pulls the flash cartridge out and installs
another.

ERNEST (V.O.)
Maybe thats true. Maybe you and I
can start over here. Maybe we can
be happy again.
 18.

The reverse: Ernest, Virginia, and Lydie Marland stare at the

camera, posing in a family portrait. Another flash.

INT. GRAND AVENUE MANSION - DAY

The black-and-white portrait is now in the hand of Virginia,

who places it on a mantel-piece.

ERNEST (O.S.)
Im taking Lydie outside.

Virginia turns and we follow her gaze to a room full of NEW

FURNITURE, which is being unwrapped by MOVING MEN. Ernest is
carrying two TENNIS RACKETS and a ball.

VIRGINIA
We still have all of upstairs.

ERNEST
(he kisses Virginia)
We have a tennis court now. She has
to learn to play.
(to Lydie)
Come.

EXT. GRAND AVENUE MANSION, TENNIS COURT - AFTERNOON

ERNEST
Knees bent like before. Right,
left. Right, left.

Ernest serves the ball, gently. Lydie misses it.

ERNEST
Thats all right. Now, again.

He serves and she misses again.

ERNEST
Get behind the ball. Dont be
scared of it.

Ernest serves. Again, gently.

This time Lydie HITS the ball, and the following is a

continuous shot: Lydie returns the serve, as above; the
camera follows the ball back over the net to Ernest, who hits
it back to her gently; Lydie returns the serve, and again we
follow the ball over the net to Ernest who hits it back; and
when we arrive back on the other side of the net, Lydie hits
the ball much harder. Lydie is now 22 years old.
 19.

Its 15 years later. Lydie is much better at the game, and so

is Ernest, who is in his mid forties.

If anything, Ernest is more handsome. He has that brand of

rugged good looks that only appear at 40.

Theyre playing vigorously.

Lydie hits a deep back-hand to the left corner and Ernest

cant get there in time. He exclaims. Shes won. Ernest walks
toward her, shaking his head.

ERNEST
Only because of my elbow.

LYDIE
Your elbow always suddenly hurts
when you lose.

Super: 1922

They go toward the house: a mansion with formal gardens

behind. And now we get our first good look at the adult
LYDIE. Shes carelessly beautiful. The childhood wariness in
her eyes is gone, or at least hidden, and she moves with
confidence and certainty.

INT. GRAND AVENUE MANSION - AFTERNOON

Virginia, also 15 years older, is supervising the last

activities of food preparation.

VIRGINIA
(looking off-screen to
Lydie and Ernest)
I sent Margaret to call you half an
hour ago.

Lydie and Ernest enter.

LYDIE
Hes 0 for 3 now.

Lydie comes up behind Virginia and puts her arms around her
neck, stealing one of the hors doeuvres.

VIRGINIA
Youre soaked! Go and get cleaned
up. Theyre arriving.
 20.

ERNEST
The only guests who arrive on time
are bankers and bores. They can
wait.

Virginia shakes her head, then looks into the dining room,
where one of the servants, MARGARET, in her 60s, is laying
out silver.

VIRGINIA
Oh what is she doing? Shes using
the wrong set... Margaret!

Virginia goes off to scold Margaret. Meanwhile, Ernest is

leaning down looking at some cannisters of seltzer water that
the servants are preparing for the bar.

ERNEST
Lydie, come look at this...

She comes to see what hes doing and Ernest lifts up a

pressurized cannister and SQUIRTS it at Lydies face, soaking
her. She screams out.

He keeps squirting until the cannister runs out of seltzer,

Lydie, dripping wet, goes for another cannister. Presses the
top and retaliates, chasing Ernest out of the room in a
stream of water.

The SERVANTS look at each other and suppress smiles.

EXT. GRAND AVENUE MANSION - LATER THAT EVENING

Red, white, and blue decorations around the formal gardens.

Its a Fourth of July party in full swing. A BAND plays jazz.

Ernest and Lydie, drinks in hand, are raising their glasses

in a toast with PEARCE, 70s.

ERNEST
Im afraid in Ponca City we do not
recognize the state of Prohibition.
We do recognize the state of
Inebriation.

Bennett approaches, overhearing.

BENNETT
(mock-pious)
Decadence dont belong in the
wholesome heartland. I call it un-
American.
 21.

ERNEST
(to Pearce)
I believe you know Spot Bennett, my
right-hand man.

Bennett shakes Pearces hand.

ERNEST
(to Bennett)
And since when is decadence un-
American?

Pearce, Barclays of London: a Noel-Coward English accent.

PEARCE
Decadence is quintessentially
American! America is the only
country that went from barbarism to
decadence without civilization in-
between! ...

Pearce engages Bennett, and Ernest and Lydie see an

opportunity to sneak away. They walk arm-in-arm, through the
crowd.

ERNEST
Ill give him that the barbarism
bit was clever.

LYDIE
Clever, but not his. He stole that
from Oscar Wilde.

ERNEST
And how is it that my innocent
flower has been exposed to Oscar
Wilde?

LYDIE
(casually, cheerfully)
I chewed through the restraints and
made a break for the library. By
the time they noticed the empty
cage, Id been through all of Wilde
and half of Lawrence.

ERNEST
(shaking his head)
I was warned: Dont send her to
college. Shell return more
intelligent than you and completely
ruined.

A man is waving at Ernest from a few feet away.

 22.

ERNEST
(under his breath)
If it isnt the vice president of
the Bank of New York. Big smiles.

LYDIE
(cheerfully)
On your own.

She lets go of his arm, smirks.

ERNEST
Wicked girl.
(to an OLD MAN, as Lydie
leaves and he approaches)
Cotty! Welcome!

EXT. GRAND AVENUE MANSION - EVENING

A large red firework explodes.

EXT. PARTY, NEAR THE POOL - NIGHT

The orchestra is now playing a riff on the Star-Spangled

Banner in the background.

A couple of the YOUNG MEN are manning the fireworks cannons,

gin glasses in hand.

A few are having a swimming race, fully clothed. Two others

do handstands on the side of the pool, and fall into the
water from there. The Jazz Age, Fitzgeralds Lost Generation
losing themselves.

Angle on BEN WILCOX, 26, handsome. And at the moment, more or

less drunk. He sees Lydie from a few feet away, gets his
balance, and plants himself next to her. She hasnt yet seen
him.

WILCOX
(whispers)
Can you talk to me?

LYDIE
(turning)
Sorry?

WILCOX
(conspiratorially)
I have a problem.
(MORE)
 23.

WILCOX (cont'd)
I am drunk and my new boss is
watching and I need to appear
normal. So can you pretend to be
riveted by my conversation?

Lydie turns casually and sees that Ernest is watching her and
Wilcox. She checks in with Ernest with her eyes, then back to
Wilcox.

LYDIE
But Im not good at pretending.
Youll have to tell me something
riveting about yourself if you want
to rivet me.

Now she stands in front of him and lets him talk. Hes drunk,
but not incoherent. After a moment ...

WILCOX
When I was in France during the
War, there were these birds whose
song was exactly the same pitch as
the sound of an incoming rocket. I
was so terrified of those birds
that I used to shoot them out of
the trees. Even after wed won the
War, when there were no more
rockets, Id shoot the bastards
anyway because, as far as I was
concerned, guilty by association.

LYDIE
(kind of riveted,
actually)
Not bad.

WILCOX
Thank you. My name is Ben, by the
way. Wilcox.

LYDIE
Im Lydie.

WILCOX
Your turn, Im-Lydie. Confess
something. Rivet me.

She looks toward where Ernest is going into the house. Ernest
gestures with his head for Lydie to follow.

LYDIE
But look. Your boss is going
inside. I think youre safe now.
(shaking his hand)
(MORE)
 24.

LYDIE (cont'd)
Thank you for the pretend
conversation.

WILCOX
Youre pretend-welcome.

She smiles and starts to leave.

WILCOX
I didnt catch your last name, Im-
Lydie.

LYDIE
I didnt say it.

INT. GRAND AVENUE MANSION, THE GRAND ROOM - NIGHT

Lydie walks into the Grand Room, a ballroom of sorts, where

Ernest is standing off to the side. Shes intercepted by MRS.
MARSDEN, 40s, wife of a local grandee.

MRS. MARSDEN
Wheres your mother got to? Were
sending a search party!

LYDIE
She wasnt feeling well, shes gone
to bed. Ill tell her you were
asking for her?

Ernest has now approached Lydie, smiling his apology to Mrs.

Marsden as he takes Lydie away.

ERNEST
Do you know any unspeakably
beautiful women whod be willing to
dance with me?

LYDIE
I cant think of any, so Ill have
to do.

Ernest holds out his hand and Lydie takes it. They go to the
floor and dance.

ANGLE on Wilcox watching. The couple is graceful and radiant.

Wilcox walks over to PRONER, 20s, a Marland Oil employee.

WILCOX
Who is that girl with Marland?

Proner, drunk, puts his arm around Wilcox.

 25.

PRONER
That, amigo, is the sole heir to
the millions. They keep her fenced
in like the unicorn in the
tapestry.

On Lydie and Ernest.

PRONER (O.S.)
Her Majesty, Miss Lydie Marland.
Princess of the Prairie.

This news sobers Wilcox up fast. He watches Lydie and Ernest

dance, now trying to recall his conversation with the bosss
daughter.

CUT TO:

The dance-floor from the stairs. Virginia Marland, a shawl

pulled over her party dress, watches Ernest and Lydie
together.

EXT. GRAND AVENUE MANSION -- 3 A.M.

The party has wound down. A few stragglers help each other to
their cars.

INT. ERNEST AND VIRGINIAS BEDROOM - NIGHT

Lydie, still in her party clothes, enters Virginias bedroom.

Empty bottles of pills, Virginia half-asleep in bed. Margaret
sits next to the bed.

LYDIE
(whispers)
Get some sleep, Margaret.
(looking at the empty
bottle)
All of these?

Margaret nods and goes.

Virginia opens her eyes and sees that Lydie has replaced
Margaret. She touches Lydies face.

VIRGINIA
Youre a good girl. Youre a good
girl, right? Youre good. Youre
good.
 26.

EXT. OUTSIDE PONCA CITY - MORNING

Early morning over the Plains.

INT. GRAND AVENUE MANSION - EARLY MORNING

Lydie comes down the stairs. She stops in the hallway, where
she sees Ernest sitting on the couch of his office. Goes to
the door.

INT. GRAND AVENUE MANSION, ERNESTS OFFICE - CONTINUOUS

A bottle of whiskey next to him and a foggy amber glass in

his hand.

LYDIE
Early for that.

Ernest looks at her, sits up a bit.

ERNEST
Not if you havent slept.
(he holds up a milk
bottle)
If you mix it with this, its a
kind of breakfast drink.

ERNEST
Sit. Napoleon spent another night
on Elba. Your mother wanted to be
alone.

Lydie sits on the couch next to him, putting her arm around
him and looking at the papers spread around.

LYDIE
You look like youve seen every sad
thing twice. Is business so bad?

ERNEST
Business has never been better.
Tonkawa came in at 8,000. Almost
too good, act of God or the devil.
(then, as much to himself
as to Lydie)
When your mother gets into her
states, we cant hold it against
her. Its my fault, you know. She
was never ill before we married.

LYDIE
How is it your fault?
 27.

He offers her the milk-and-whiskey concoction, she refuses

it. He takes a drink.

ERNEST
There are things, Lydie. Thats the
thing -- that there are always
things. She was pregnant back in
Pittsburgh. I went out to work the
Cumberland, door to door asking
toothless farmers for their mineral
options. She got sick, I wasnt
there, she had a miscarriage. With
complications.
(beat)
And the world stopped turning,
round and round.

LYDIE
What could you have done?

ERNEST
Not a thing. Not a goddamn, blessed
thing. But I should have been
there.
(a long moment)
And now its time to start the day.

He gets up, kisses Lydie on the forehead, leaves.

EXT. PRAIRIE - VARIOUS ANGLES

New grass. Birds. A couple of clouds in a blue sky.

INT. GRAND AVENUE MANSION - DAY

Lydie enters smiling, carrying two white flowers.

Margaret is in the hallway.

LYDIE
Look, trout lily. That means
winters broken.

When she looks at Margarets face, her expression changes.

Pre-lap the sound of screaming.

INT. ERNEST AND VIRGINIAS BEDROOM - A FEW MINUTES LATER

Virginia is in her bed, suffering the painful very last

stages of stomach cancer.
 28.

Lydie enters to find: Ernest kneeling at Virginias bed. A

doctor, ABRAHAM SOPHIAN, attending to her.

Virginia sees Lydie appear at the door.

VIRGINIA
I dont want her in here! Get her
out!

Lydie stops at the door.

VIRGINIA
I never wanted her! She brought it
into this house!

Ernest turns and shakes his head at Lydie (Pay her no

mind), who goes pale.

ERNEST
(back to Virginia)
Shhhh. Were here, my love. Were
here.

VIRGINIA
(through her teeth)
You didnt love me. You never loved
me.

SOPHIAN
(whispers across the bed,
to Ernest)
[Its] morphine, Mr. Marland.

Ernest moves close to put his arms around her.

VIRGINIA
Dont you touch me! You get out! I
know!

Sophian puts more morphine into the drip.

VIRGINIA
(to Ernest)
I know you! I KNOW.

INT. GRAND AVENUE MANSION, HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS

Lydie collects herself outside the door to Virginias room.

VIRGINIA (O.S.)
(from the other room)
I know! I know.
 29.

EXT. CEMETERY - AFTERNOON

Ernest and Lydie stand at the front of a crowd of mourners as

a preacher reads a Biblical verse.

EXT. CEMETERY - LATER

The mourners are breaking up. Lydie puts her arm around her
father and they walk away from the grave.

ERNEST
Ride with me.

EXT. THE PLAINS - AFTERNOON

A silver Bentley drives down a road in the middle of the

plains. Suddenly it turns off road, toward a swell in the
landscape, kicking up dust.

Its an odd sight to see this bejewelled car baja-ing in the

dirt, as if Merchant and Ivory took a wrong turn into a
western.

EXT. HILL - DUSK

The Bentley is parked at the bottom of the hill. Ernest and

Lydie, their mourning clothes dirty from sitting on the
ground, look west toward the sun on the horizon.

ERNEST
She did love you.

LYDIE
I know.

INT. ERNESTS OFFICE - LATE NIGHT

Ernest, his sleeves rolled, has stacks of papers spread in

front of him.

On his desk is a picture of VIRGINIA. He moves the picture to

where he can see it better, looks at it for a moment, then
continues to read.

INT. MARLAND OIL OFFICE, PONCA CITY - MORNING

The Marland Oil board having a meeting around a table in an

elaborately carved wooden room. The door opens fast and
Ernest enters.
 30.

The Board men look up. Bennett, bewildered.

BENNETT
We werent expecting you in today.

Ernest looks exhausted. Hes still wearing the shirt from

last night. Hasnt slept, but hes all business. He drops a
stack of papers on the table, takes his seat at its head.

ERNEST
When Sudik came in, up blackjack
country, we didnt make an offer.
Tell me whys that.

BOSKIRK, an executive in his late thirties, speaks up.

BOSKIRK
We knew Standard wanted it, sir. No
chance in hell of outbidding them.

ERNEST
Thats what we thought. Thats what
they wanted us to think.

Ernest reaches into his briefcase and produces a stack of

documents.

ERNEST
Last night I had a look at the
Standard lease from public records.
Came across something of interest.
(holding up the stack)
The dates.

He drops the stack on the table.

ERNEST
According to this, Standard Oil
took twenty-one days to make their
deal with Old Lady Sudik. Those
boys they sent sat starin at their
shoes from breakfast to bed three
weeks before they had go-ahead from
New York on their numbers. This
tells me something.

The board is quiet.

ERNEST
This tells me those suits cant
piss in a puddle without approval
from Rockefeller two thousand miles
away.
(MORE)
 31.

ERNEST (cont'd)
We couldve been in Old Lady
Sudiks kitchen with a cherry pie
and an offer before they could even
ask directions to her farm.
(beat)
We kissed off 10,000 barrels a day.
We were lazy.

The board is quiet. Suddenly, Ernest stands up.

ERNEST
Stand up.

The Board members look at each other.

ERNEST
Go on, stand up. STAND. Out of your
seats, up!

The men awkwardly stand.

ERNEST
It starts now. Now on, were not
gonna sit blueballed waiting for
some boardroom back east to decide
what bones we can pick over. We see
good dirt, we move in for the kill,
we do it fast.

CUT TO:

ERNEST and BENNETT stand in a field with a map, pointing to a

field next to an OLD FARMER. A goat strains on a rope to
reach them.

CUT TO:

BACK WHERE WE LEFT OFF IN THE BOARD ROOM.

ERNEST
Standards size is their advantage,
but its also their liability.

Ernest is now walking around the room. The men, even the
graybeards, are getting excited.

Pre-lap the sound of drilling.

CUT TO:

LOOKING DOWN INTO A WELL: A DRILL BIT hits slate and there is
a whistle of gas. The screen turns black. OIL.
 32.

INSIDE A PIPE looking at a circle of light. OIL fills the

pipeline and darkens the circle.

CUT TO:

BACK WHERE WE LEFT OFF IN THE BOARD ROOM.

ERNEST
Takes an elephant a long time to
turn around. By then, the mouse
already has the peanut.

Pre-lap the sound of a TRAIN WHISTLE.

CUT TO:

OIL SPURTS out of the pipeline into a storage container.

TRAINYARD: DETAIL of a hand dipping a brush in red paint.

Painting the new red MARLAND OILS TRIANGLE LOGO.

A FIELD OF OIL DERRICKS as far as the eye can see --

Christmas Tree wells, conical assemblies of pipes and valves.

TRAINYARD AGAIN: A wide shot reveals that the Painter has

already painted the red MARLAND OILS LOGO on a dozen other
tanker cars.

The sound of flashbulbs, and we begin to hear a big-band

version of the song I Guess Ill Have To Change My Plans,
which continues throughout this MONTAGE:

EXT. OMAHA, NEBRASKA - DAY

A ceremony in front of a sign that features the red Marland

triangle.

ERNEST
On behalf of the board and
employees, I declare the 400th
Marland Oils station... open!

ON THE DAIS. Ernest and Lydie cut the ribbon with giant
oversized scissors. Flashes. Applause.

A 12-piece BAND is playing the song weve been hearing.

EXT. PONCA CITY - DAY

Ernest and Lydie cut another ribbon in front of the large

Marland Oil Headquarters, a stucco ten-storey building.
 33.

Next to them is WILLIE CRIES-FOR-WAR, now dressed in an

expensive suit. Flashes.

EXT. KANSAS - DAY

Ernest and Lydie cut another ribbon. Flashes. Applause.

CUT TO:

ERNEST
Lemme tell you something about
experts. Experts said four
years ago that only a gophers got
good reason for digging a hole in
Texas. So tell Dry Hole Charlie I
said damn right were going
ahead...

Ernest is speaking to the Press. Ten or twelve Reporters and

Photographers, after the event. He is arm in arm with Lydie.

Two REPORTERS watch from within the press hordes.

REPORTER 1
(eye on Lydie)
She sticks close by him.

REPORTER 2
(sotto)
Do you blame her? Every eligible
woman in America wants to be her
step-mother. Not to mention half
the ineligible ones.

REPORTER 1
(looking down at his pad)
How many zeroes are in a hundred
million?

INT. TRAIN, MARLANDS PRIVATE COACH - LATER

Mahogany and leather. Gold-trim. Large Ms carved into the

wainscoting.

Ernest and Lydie are still dressed in their clothes from the
Kansas station opening. They are finishing a bottle of wine.
Sitting opposite each other, feet up on the seats.

They are laughing. Its that time of night and stage of

drinking where everything is hilarious.
 34.

ERNEST
What about Mrs. Allen? Did you meet
her?

LYDIE
The Emily Dickinson of Wichita. But
she only writes Bible poetry.
(imitating Mrs. Allens
thick Wichita accent)
All I need to know, dear, is God
rhymes with good and evil
rhymes with devil.

ERNEST
Ill go you ten-to-one shes making
bathtub gin between revival
meetings.

The laughter abates. A moment of eye contact between them.

ERNEST
Sleep.

He kisses her on the cheek. Gets up and goes to his cabin.

ON Lydie. Her face is reflected in the window, over the dark

plains passing by.

EXT. PONCA CITY MAIN STREET - DAY

Thriving now. The money from the Ponca wells is spreading.

Cars everywhere. New Art Deco-inspired buildings. No longer
the Wild West, but a 1920s boom city.

EXT. PONCA CITY MAIN STREET - DAY

Lydie leaves a shop and walks down the street with packages.

WILCOX (O.S.)
Excuse me.

She turns.

WILCOX
You wont remember me. We met about
year ago. More than that.

LYDIE
The pretend-conversation.
(offering her hand)
Mr. Wilcox.
 35.

WILCOX
(shaking her hand)
Miss Marland.

LYDIE
Youve learned my last name.

CUT TO:

A moment later. They are walking.

WILCOX
I cant say its a hoot and a
holler, exactly. I crunch numbers,
write checks. Keep up the royalties
on the Newkirk and Tonkawa lines,
wherever those are.

LYDIE
You havent been out to the Red
Bed?

Shakes his head.

LYDIE
Then the fields are just a piece of
paper to you. You should go there.

Lydies 1927 Mercedes-Benz 36 has now pulled up alongside

them. Her Driver gets out and holds the door for her.

LYDIE
I have to exercise the horses
tomorrow, the Red Beds as good a
way as any. Do you ride?

EXT. PRAIRIE - DAY

From overhead. Lydie and Wilcox are riding horses westward.

LYDIE (O.S.)
The first thing my father made me
do when I arrived was learn the
names of the flowers and the birds.

EXT. FIELDS - DAY

They have stopped near a stream where the horses are

drinking.

LYDIE
In English and in Latin.
 36.

Lydie and Wilcox are sitting on the ground drinking from

canteens. In a field of yellow flowers. She stretches out a
garland of flowers shes tied together. Judging its length.

LYDIE
Maybe a few more.
(he hands her more)
He used to march me out as a girl
to test me on what Id learned. I
hated him for it, but now Im
grateful.

WILCOX
Whats the name of that, then? That
bird thats singing.

Birdsong nearby.

LYDIE
Im being tested now?

WILCOX
Absolutely.

LYDIE
(shell play along)
Sturnella neglecta. The western
meadowlark. I dont see her,
though.
(scanning, then pointing)
There.

She whistles to the bird.

LYDIE
They look the same as the eastern
kind, but they have a completely
different song. Theyre like
people. You can tell where theyre
from by their accent.

Wilcox makes a sound, trying to imitate Lydies whistle. He

cant do it.

LYDIE
You are from Boston, youll never
survive out here. Lips like this.
Look at me.

She does it, he imitates; fails again. She whistles again, he

emits a screech that alarms the horses.

LYDIE (O.S.)
Why here?
 37.

EXT. A LOW RISE IN THE PLAINS - DAY

They are riding again. Lydies horse (CYRUS) is not

necessarily happy that he is wearing the garland of yellow
flowers.

WILCOX
Why what?

LYDIE
Why choose here after the War? Why
not seek your fortune in Chicago or
New York?

WILCOX
Space.

Lydie looks at him.

WILCOX
I decided that if I ever made it
out of Argonne Forest alive, I was
coming to the wide open West. No
more living in foxholes or trenches
or graves. Just empty space. A
place where you can breathe.

Theyve now come to the crest of the rise in the ground and
are at a promontory. Spread out before them, the Ponca field.

Its no longer a back-woods camp of a few oil derricks but a

sprawling city of rigs, rails, towers, and men. Beyond the
field, the vast expanse of the Great Plains.

EXT. GRAND AVENUE MANSION -- AFTERNOON

Its raining. From a distance, we watch Lydie and Wilcox

descend from their horses. A GROOM takes the horses away.

Lydie extends her hand to shake Wilcoxs in saying goodbye.

He responds by kissing her on the lips. A moment. Then:

WILCOX
Tomorrow?

LYDIE
Tomorrow.

CUT TO:
 38.

INT. GRAND AVENUE MANSION, ERNESTS OFFICE - CONTINUOUS

Ernest has been watching the scene from his window.

EXT. GRAND AVENUE MANSION - A MOMENT LATER

Lydie hurries inside, wet. Ernest comes to the door of his

office.

ERNEST
Good day?

She looks up, surprised. Smiles.

LYDIE
Until the rain. Cyrus hates getting
wet.

She comes to him, kisses Ernest on the cheek, heads upstairs.

LYDIE
(re: her soaked jacket)
It came on so suddenly.

ON Ernest, standing at the door.

EXT. PONCA CITY - MORNING

A sunny day. Cloudless skies.

EXT. GRAND AVENUE MANSION - MORNING

Wilcox is bouncing a tennis ball up and down on his racket.

He is wearing tennis clothes. Walking through the gardens
toward the house.

Before he arrives at the house... ERNEST intercepts him and

says something we cant hear. They turn and begin to walk
away from the house, talking.

INT. GRAND AVENUE MANSION - CONTINUOUS

Lydie comes down the stairs wearing tennis clothes and

carrying a tennis racket. She looks at a clock.

LYDIE
Has anyone been by?

MARGARET
No, miss.
 39.

INT. GRAND AVENUE MANSION - NIGHT

Lydie is still in her tennis clothes, sitting slumped in a

chair.

INT. MARLAND OIL OFFICE, PONCA CITY - DAY

Lydie, smartly dressed, approaches ALICE, 30s, the secretary

at the main reception desk.

LYDIE
Is Mr. Wilcox in today, Alice?

ALICE
Mr. Wilcox has been transferred to
Los Angeles, the Seal Beach field.
Happened yesterday.

Lydie is at a loss. Turns. As she leaves, Alice calls to her.

ALICE
Would you like to leave a message?

EXT. BOARDING HOUSE, PONCA CITY - DAY

Outside the more or less respectable boarding house where

Wilcox has been living, he is loading up a 1927 Ford truck
with boxes and suitcases.

Lydie appears next to him. He looks at her, then continues

packing things.

WILCOX
(not looking at her)
He said if I saw you again, I would
never work in the oil business. He
can ruin anyone he chooses. Its
not my fault.

He is cold, emotionless, keeps doing what hes doing. She

walks away. When shes a few feet from him--

WILCOX (O.S.)
Tell him I wasnt after your money.

She turns back. Hes looking at her.

WILCOX
Tell him when I met you I didnt
even know who you were.
 40.

He goes back to packing. Lydie thinks for a moment, then

leaves.

INT. GRAND AVENUE MANSION, GRAND ROOM - NIGHT

Lydie is crouching in front of the fireplace. She hears a

door open, doesnt look up. Footsteps.

Ernest crouches next to her, also looking at the fire. After

a moment --

ERNEST
(quietly)
In our position, we have to
question peoples motivations.
We cant have these jackals biting
at our heels.

LYDIE
(not looking at him)
You think everyone is a jackal
because you are.

Silence.

ERNEST
I would have held my tongue and
given him the keys to the kingdom--

She turns and looks him in the face.

ERNEST
If I thought you could ever fall in
love with him.

He gets up to leave the room and she turns to the fire again.

ERNEST
(before leaving)
He didnt protest. His first
thought was protecting his career,
not protecting you. Thats when I
knew he wasnt worth the dirt
beneath your feet.

He leaves. Lydie keeps looking into the fire.

EXT. GRAND AVENUE MANSION - AFTERNOON

Ernests car and driver pull up in front of the house.

 41.

CHAUFFEUR
Are we waiting for Miss Marland,
sir?

ERNEST
I dont think shell be joining us
tonight.

He starts to get in the car, then looks up at the front door.

It is LYDIE. She is dressed impeccably, descends the stairs,

and gets in the car behind Ernest.

INT. CAR - AFTERNOON

The car pulls away. They sit on opposite sides, not speaking.

INT. WYNN HOUSE - A FEW HOURS LATER

The dessert course of a well-appointed dinner party. A few

empty bottles of wine. Spirited, ebullient, and sparring
conversation.

Ernest and Lydie sit at a table with WYNN, 60s, and his wife
ARLENE; JESSE, 40s, and his wife LILLIAN; POTTER, 60s; and
SHAW, avuncular, 70s.

WYNN
But why should the Indians work?
Theyve got everything they need.
If you teach them to want things,
then theyll work.

JESSE
Weve introduced enough diseases to
the Indians, thank you very much,
we dont need to give them
capitalism as well...

Laughter and here-he-goes-again groans.

SHAW
(passing the dessert)
For which there is no known cure.

POTTER
(hes been drinking)
But surely we owe them. And not
just the Indians for that matter.
Those of us who have, owe. Ernest,
for example...
(over groans)
(MORE)
 42.

POTTER (cont'd)
No, let me finish. Ernest has a
business, a very successful
business, in which he has worked
hard. But his wealth comes out of
the earth. He didnt make the oil.
He has a claim on the land, but
essentially he is taking something
that -- you could argue -- like
air, belongs to everybody. So,
therefore, does he owe me anything?

JESSE
Well certainly not you in
particular.

Lydie, sitting staring at her glass.

ERNEST
(choosing words carefully)
What I owe everyone is to be
prosperous. When business is
prosperous, people work, people
eat. Thats the way to lift people
up, not Red October and blood in
the snow ...

SHAW
Oh, thats just the robber barons
old stand-by! A-rising-tide-lifts-
all-boats...

JESSE
Which means damned little if your
boat is leaking and surrounded by
sharks.

Laughter.

POTTER
May I suggest that we continue this
over something stronger than wine?

Ernest and the men get up to go into the drawing room. Lydie
starts to follow. But the hostess intercepts her.

ARLENE
Miss Marland? The smoking room is
for the gentlemen.

Lydie locks eyes with Ernest as Arlene leads her, arm in arm,
away from the drawing room toward the parlor. Where the
ladies are retiring for tea and cake.
 43.

EXT. GRAND AVENUE MANSION, FOYER - LATER THAT NIGHT

The front door opens in the dead-silent foyer.

Ernest and Lydie enter, she starts to go up the stairs.

Before she goes:

ERNEST
I know you had a miserable time.
But thank you for coming.

She finally looks him in the eye.

LYDIE
What I cant figure out is how you
could do what you did to me and
still have me not hate you.

She walks up to Ernest and SLAPS him on the face. Then hits
him again. Hard. Again and again. Finally, he takes her arms
to stop her from striking him.

The way he holds her is more than a position of restraint.

In black silhouette, in front of the lit stairway, he holds

her and they lean into each other, forehead to forehead.

ERNEST
(whispers)
When I saw him kissing you, I
nearly killed him.

They stand like that for another beat, breathing hard.

Ernest loosens his grip and leaves.

INT. POOL - LATE NIGHT

Underwater. The sound of Ernests breathing.

In the indoor pool, Ernest is swimming hard, doing laps. The

pool is lit by moonlight and the lamps that line its
perimeter.

Ernests swimming and breathing become more and more labored,

and finally he grabs hold of the side of the pool. Pulls
himself out, onto the ceramic tile floor.

He lies on the cold tiles, thinking.

 44.

EXT. MARLAND GAME RESERVE - DAY

A BOY opens a cage where a RED FOX WITH A SILVER TAIL is

cowering. The FOX springs out of the cage and bounds out
toward some undergrowth.

EXT. MARLAND GAME RESERVE - DAY

A pack of hounds come over a hill, followed in close pursuit

by a dozen RIDERS on horses in a mix of earth-tone and
scarlet hunting coats. Riding hats. It looks more like an
English estate than western Oklahoma. Among them is the
English M.F.H., Master of Fox Hunt.

M.F.H.
(galloping to Ernest)
They lost her scent, sir. We should
cover ground in cross-lines.

ERNEST
(also on horseback)
Ill circle the rise. Lydie, you go
toward the pond.

Lydie turns Cyrus and gallops away. She jumps the horse over
a log into a hollow of low bushes and trees, slows him down
to scan the bushes. Something moves.

It is the SILVER-TAILED FOX.

The fox looks at Lydie and Lydie looks at the fox. A long
moment.

She opens her mouth to alert the others. But she hesitates.

The fox shows no fear. She holds Lydies gaze, long and
intense. Lydie cant move, doesnt want to. Then the fox
darts into the bushes.

CUT TO:

A MOMENT LATER.

Lydie comes up the hill on her horse. Ernest, Bennett, and

the MFH at the crest.

ERNEST
Any sign of her?

LYDIE
No. No sign.
 45.

EXT. MARLAND GAME RESERVE, PICNIC GROUNDS - DAY

An elaborate lunch for the hunting party, attended by

servants, laid out on picnic tables. Lydie sits at one table,
Ernest at another.

DAVIS, 26, is arguing with his girlfriend GEORGIANE, 22.

DAVIS
Not at all. What I said was that
there are predators in the wild
anyway.

GEORGIANE
And what I said was, For instance?
What predators eat foxes? Foxes
dont even live here. Im glad you
didnt catch her. Good for her.

As Georgiane speaks, Lydie gets up and walks into the woods,

her exit barely noticed.

Ernest, at his table, spots Lydie going into the woods.

ERNEST
Scuse me.

He follows her at some distance behind.

EXT. MARLAND GAME RESERVE, FIELD - CONTINUOUS

His POV: Lydie stands in the tall grass, thinking. Perhaps

shes hoping to see the fox again.

Her right hand is on her hip and shes silhouetted in the

setting sun over the hunting grounds. The sight of her figure
in riding clothes in that pink light is breathtaking.

Ernest approaches her, through the grass. She doesnt see or

hear him coming. He touches her on the shoulder, startling
her. She turns around.

Then, very suddenly, Ernest grabs and kisses Lydie on the

lips. Its a long and deep kiss. She puts her arms around
him, kisses him back.

BENNETT (O.S.)
(from a distance)
Ernest?! Were doing the toast!
Where have you got to?

The kiss is broken. They look at each other, both in a kind

of disbelief. Ernest goes back the way he came.
 46.

Lydie touches her mouth. Hes kissed her so hard her lip is
bleeding.

EXT. MARLAND GAME RESERVE, ENTRANCE - A FEW MINUTES LATER

Lydie rides off the game reserve and down the street.

INT. GRAND AVENUE MANSION - EVENING

Ernest enters. A young BUTLER -- CLAY BATES, 20s -- takes his

hunting coat.

ERNEST
Is Lydie back?

CLAY
No, sir.

Ernest starts to walk away. He stops, turns back.

ERNEST
Who the hell are you?

CLAY
Im Clay, sir. The new under-
butler. You hired me Tuesday.

ERNEST
Right, good. Welcome. If my
daughter comes in, let me know.

CLAY
Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.

Ernest goes up the stairs.

EXT. GROVE - EVENING

Lydie sits, her arms around her knees, at the foot of one of
some trees. In the moonlight, she can see the Plains
stretching out in front of her.

EXT. GRAND AVENUE MANSION - NIGHT

Lydie arrives back at the house. A porter takes her horse.

 47.

INT. LYDIES BEDROOM - NIGHT

She enters her bedroom, removes her riding boots. Takes off
her jacket. When she turns, she notices:

Taped to her mirror is a piece of paper on which is written:

a very large ?

Lydie takes down the paper, sits on her bed. Her finger
traces the curve of the question mark. Again and again, as if
it were someones body, the curve of someones back.

INT. MARLAND OIL, BOARD ROOM - AFTERNOON

BOSKIRK
Now if you look at the map, its
plain as anything that Humble got
around the 4800 by incorporating
the old claims as Indian charter.

A SECRETARY approaches Ernest quietly with a white envelope

with his name on it.

SECRETARY
(whispers)
I was told it was urgent, sir.

Boskirk keeps talking as Ernest opens the envelope. Inside is

a piece of paper.

He unfolds it. Written on it is a very large !

BOSKIRK (O.S.)
Ernest?

Ernest is smiling. Boskirk hands him an annotated map but

Ernest doesnt respond. He gets up and leaves the room.

General confusion. Before the board members have even had a

chance to react, the Secretary pokes her head into the room.

SECRETARY
Mr. Marland says the meetings
adjourned.

We begin to hear Bach on piano, the aria from the Goldberg

Variations...

INT. GRAND AVENUE MANSION, PARLOR - AFTERNOON

Lydie is playing the piano alone.

 48.

Ernest, still wearing his clothes from the board meeting,

comes to the door of the room where shes playing.

He stands watching her. She doesnt notice him for a long

time. Then she looks up, stops, mid musical phrase.

He has taken the folded paper with the ! out of his pocket
and is holding it up toward her. They stare at each other.

INT. ERNESTS BEDROOM - AFTERNOON

He closes his door, pushes her up against it.

ERNEST
We cant.

LYDIE
I know.

Ernest kisses her and they cling to each other. Its almost
brutal, the release of years of pent-up energy and longing.

He steps back, away from her. Shaking his head. But Lydie
steps toward him. Now she is the aggressor, kisses him.

She holds his shirt collar hard and it rips. Slowly, he gives
in. He undoes her dress, exposing her breast.

In a moment, its a kind of sexual frenzy.

Jump-cuts and time cuts. It feels like time repeating,

fracturing; slowed-down, accelerated.

Now theyre naked. Ernest enters her. She cries out. She has
never done this before. Then she takes a breath and lets him
continue. She looks in his eyes. She is happy.

INT. ERNESTS BEDROOM - EARLY MORNING

Lydie is lying awake, in Ernests arms. She untwines herself.

He doesnt wake up.

She gathers her clothes from the floor, looks at him

sleeping.

INT. HALLWAY - EARLY MORNING

Lydie, having put on some of her clothes, closes the door

gently.
 49.

She turns from the door and is startled. Margaret, with her
gray hair and penetrating eyes, is standing watching her. She
looks at Lydie, Lydie at her.

LYDIE
(as casual as possible)
Good morning, Margaret.

Lydie goes past her, enters her own room, and closes the
door.

ON Margaret. Pre-lap the sound of applause.

EXT. POLO FIELDS - DAY

A well-dressed CROWD watches a ceremony preceding a polo

match.

WILL ROGERS
But fore any of that, we would
like to thank Mr. E.W. Marland for
sponsoring todays event. Round of
applause, please.

Applause. On a stage constructed at the end of the field: The

POLO PLAYERS, wearing distinguished uniforms. Ernest and
Lydie, dressed in fine clothes. WILL ROGERS, 50s, in his
trademark cowboy hat, at the microphone, speaking.

WILL ROGERS
Course, the papers say he owns ten
percent of the oil in the world, so
the S.O.B. can afford it!
(laughter)
Ernie Marland removed the cushions
of his couch last week and found a
million dollars down there!
(laughter; then,
scratching his head)
Now, I wondered where that went!

More laughter.

EXT. POLO FIELD - DAY (AN HOUR LATER)

Close to the ground, we watch a polo ball fly across the dirt
and a thunderous stampede of sinew and hoof follow in
pursuit.
 50.

EXT. POLO CLUB STANDS - DAY

Ernest sits between Lydie and Bennett. They are watching the
match from the VIP area.

BENNETT
(leaning in to whisper to
Ernest)
Dont look now. Youre being stared
at.

Ernest casually looks across the stands. His POV: a BLOND

WOMAN in her early 40s is staring at Ernest.

BENNETT (O.S.)
Janice Young. Oklahomas most
eligible widow.

ERNEST
(out loud)
Its no use. Lydie is the only girl
in my life. Arent you dear?

Lydie smiles. Ernests hand is secretly rubbing her thigh.

EXT. RECEPTION, AFTER THE POLO MATCH - DAY

Lydie and Ernest are holding hands, speaking with a couple of

the Polo Players. Lydie is radiant and laughing.

Mrs. Marsden, whom we last saw at the Fourth of July party,

is watching them.

MRS. MARSDEN
Somethings changed. Dont you
think shes different?

MRS. JAMES
Shes always so different from
everyone else in the world that
its hard to say when shes
different from herself.

INT. POLO CLUB STABLES - LATER

Lydie is pressed up against the wall of one of the horse

stalls.

Ernest is inside her. His hand is over her mouth. The polite
conversation of the polo match crowd outside, audible.

He climaxes.
 51.

INT. GRAND AVENUE MANSION, ERNESTS BEDROOM - DAY

Margaret is making Ernests bed. She knocks a cuff-link off

his night table; it clinks on the floor; she bends to pick it
up.

Reaching under the bed, she sees a white mass underneath, and
reaches in to retrieve it. Crumpled in a ball are white
sheets that have on them a prominent red stain, like a
Japanese flag.

INT. GRAND AVENUE MANSION, ERNESTS OFFICE - DAY

CLAY
Margaret has quit, sir. She left
this morning.

Ernest, sitting at his desk opening mail. He looks up on

hearing this.

ERNEST
After twenty years, she quit
without telling me? Why on earth?

CLAY
She asked me to give you this.

Clay hands Ernest an envelope and turns to leave.

Ernest opens the envelope. Inside is a black-and-white photo

of Margaret with Virginia Marland. Before Clay can exit--

ERNEST
Clay.

Clay, at the door, turns.

ERNEST
I no longer intend to lie about the
recent developments in my life, at
least not in my own house. So if
there is any reason you would like
to be relieved of your duties, I
will give you full severance pay
and not raise any objections.

A beat.

CLAY
I cant think of any reason, sir.

Ernest smiles slightly and nods. Clay bows and leaves.

 52.

Ernest looks at Margarets envelope. Then turns toward the

window, thinking. Its starting to rain.

EXT. GRAND AVENUE MANSION - AFTERNOON

In the rain, Ernest leaves the house with a suitcase. His

Chauffeur takes it from him and holds open the door.

ERNEST (V.O.)
Dear Lydie, When you read this I
will be on my way to Lubbock. Ive
been asked to have a look at the
Desdemona field and decided to do
it now.

INT. CAR - AFTERNOON

Ernest stares out the window, the reflection of the Plains

superimposed over his face.

ERNEST (V.O.)
I wanted to give you time to be
alone. To think. To give you the
chance to leave, if thats what you
want.

INT. GRAND AVENUE MANSION - LATER

Lydie is let in, out of the rain, by Clay. Carrying a handful

of packages.

She sees an envelope sitting on the table near the stairway.

It says LYDIE.

ERNEST (V.O.)
If you choose to go to New York or
Chicago or Paris, you will be given
everything you could ever want for
a life there.

She picks up the envelope, opens it.

EXT. GRAND AVENUE MANSION, GARDENS - AFTERNOON

ERNEST (V.O.)
Ill be back in a months time. If
youve gone when I return, Ill
love you forever as my daughter.

Lydie walks out to the lawn, in the rain with the letter.
 53.

ERNEST (V.O.)
If you are here, then we must set
about making the impossible
possible.

She finishes reading the letter and stands in the garden,

soaking wet, as the rain pours down.

EXT. TRAIN STATION, PONCA CITY - MORNING

No longer just a platform in the middle of the Plain, but a

proper station.

Ernest descends from his private carriage and scans the

crowd. People kissing, parents greeting children, porters
fussing with luggage.

Now, a porter with a luggage cart stacked high pulls his cart
away, revealing: LYDIE. Looking at him. Waiting.

INT. CAR - A FEW MINUTES LATER

Ernest and Lydie are in the back of the car in an embrace.

They are holding on to each other as if for dear life.

Its not sexual, exactly, but its bizarre. The DRIVER looks
in the rear-view mirror at them.

Pre-lap a loud crack.

INT. GRAND AVENUE MANSION SQUASH COURT - DAY

Ernest and Bennett are playing a vigorous game of squash.

Loud echoes of ball on racquet. A volley of a few hits. Now
Bennett hits the ball into the side wall. Reckless.

ERNEST
Again? Whats wrong with you today?

Bennett catches his breath. Then, because he cant avoid it

any longer:

BENNETT
(quietly)
People know now. Its dangerous.

On ERNEST.

BENNETT
Youre going to destroy everything.
Weve worked too hard.
 54.

Now, in a sudden burst of energy, Ernest throws his racket at

the wall. It smashes and breaks.

BENNETT
You cant do what youre doing!
Youre not above the rules!

ERNEST
You think I CHOSE this... ?

BENNETT
THERE ARE RULES, ERNEST!

Now, Ernest RUSHES Bennett and pins him against the wall.

ERNEST
... YOU THINK I WOKE UP AND SAID,
TODAY IM GOING TO INVITE YOUR
SCORN AND STARES AND YOUR GODDAMNED
PITY?! YOU DONT CHOOSE! YOU DO
NOT CHOOSE.

A moment. They look eye to eye. Ernest is going to punch him.

No. He lets go and smooths the shoulders where he grabbed
Bennetts shirt.

INT. GRAND AVENUE MANSION SQUASH COURTS - HOURS LATER

Its the middle of the night. Ernest is drenched in sweat and

hitting balls against the wall vigorously. Over and over
again until hes ready to collapse.

He lets himself fall to the ground, catching his breath.

Pan up to reveal that: LYDIE, in her nightgown and bathrobe,

has been watching him from the window that looks over the
squash courts.

CUT TO:

A black screen with light poking out at the top and bottom.

LYDIE (O.S.)
This is insane. Youre insane.

EXT. GRAND AVENUE MANSION - DAY

It is the POV of Lydie, who is blindfolded, being led out of

the house by Ernest. She reaches to remove the blindfold.
 55.

ERNEST
Dont you dare!
(helping her down)
Careful. Step.

EXT. ROAD OUTSIDE GAME RESERVE - DAY

Ernest drives his own Rolls down the road. He drives past
construction vehicles.

EXT. MARLAND GAME RESERVE - DAY

The car drives up a temporary road and comes upon a clearing.

Part of the hunting grounds have become a massive
construction site.

EXT. MARLAND GAME RESERVE, CONSTRUCTION SITE - DAY

ERNEST
Ready.

He removes the blindfold from her eyes.

She takes in the scene: woods. Dirt overturned and workmen

everywhere.

LYDIE
The game reserve.

ERNEST
No longer only the game reserve.
The future site of the single most
glorious house ever built on the
American Plains.

LYDIE
But who will live in it?

He grins.

LYDIE
We already have a house.

ERNEST
We have a house where you were my
daughter. This is the house where
youll be my wife.

He gets down on one knee in front of her and takes a ring

from his pocket.
 56.

ERNEST
(very matter-of-fact)
Saying yes will make your life
unbearable.

She looks down at him.

LYDIE
Saying no will make my life
unbearable. So I suppose were
stuck.

She extends her hand for him to put the ring on. We pull out
to a wide shot of them in front of the construction site.

CLERK
(pre-lap)
And also at the bottom. Perfect.

INT. PONCA CITY HALL - DAY

Ernest signs a document.

CLERK
(to Lydie)
And now you, please, Miss Marland.

Clerk indicates two places where Lydie should sign. She does.

CLERK
(stamping the papers)
We have officially annulled the
adoption of Ms. Lydie Roberts
Marland by Mr. Ernest Marland.
These are your copies.

ERNEST
(he takes the papers)
While were here, wed like to sort
out some other paperwork.

CLERK
(looking down at his
files)
Certainly, sir.

ERNEST
Wed like to apply for a marriage
license.

Clerk looks up, laughs. Ernest isnt joking.

 57.

EXT. THE PALACE - DAY

A CROWD DRESSED FOR A WEDDING, leaving their cars, entering

majestic stone gates. They are seeing the grounds of the now-
completed house on the hunting grounds for the first time.

JUDGE (O.S.)
And do you, Lydie Roberts, take
Ernest Marland as your husband...

As we hear the sound of the wedding vows, the guests look up

and around in awe. Ernest wasnt exaggerating. It is the most
glorious house ever built on the Plains. It is already being
called the Palace on the Prairie.

Its a grand mansion that is somewhere between Spanish-style

hacienda and Roman villa. Every inch either custom-built or
imported from a Florentine palace or Venetian villa or some
grand place.

JUDGE (O.S.)
... to have and to hold, in
sickness and in health ...

ANGLE on lake with islands, and water stocked with fish and
birds.

ANGLE on the painted wooden ceiling of the Great Room.

Painted figures and scenes depict the history of Oklahoma in
long narrative lines. 24 karat gold trim, hammered leaf-thin.

EXT. THE PALACE, LAWNS - DAY

And finally we settle on the Palace lawn small wedding party,

two dozen guests, including BENNETT and his wife. Ernest and
Lydie exchanging vows.

JUDGE
...from this day forth, for as long
as you both shall live?

LYDIE
I do.

EXT. THE PALACE, FORMAL GARDENS - LATER

A small wedding reception. In formal gardens that are

literally modelled on those at Versailles.
 58.

Around the reception: Lydie and Ernest are cutting a modest

wedding cake. Guests -- including two society women, MRS.
IVORY and MRS. BYRD -- watch. A Waiter gives them drinks.

MRS. IVORY
(quietly, to Mrs. Byrd)
All little girls think theyre
going to grow up to marry their
daddies. Shes actually done it.

POV on Lydie cutting the cake.

MRS. BYRD
Its not as if theyre blood
relatives. I think theyre
romantic, in a way.

MRS. IVORY
I think theyre a walking Greek
tragedy.

Applause for Lydie from the crowd gathered around her and
Ernest. He kisses her.

EXT. THE PALACE - DAY

MEN unload a very large WOODEN BOX from a truck.

EXT. THE PALACE, GARDENS - A FEW MINUTES LATER

Ernest is walking back and forth, speaking to workmen off-

camera.

ERNEST
Back a bit. Back, back. Good.

EXT. THE GARDENS - DUSK

A couple of RACCOONS drink from one of the fountains in the

gardens. They look up, alarmed to hear footsteps.

Lydie and Ernest are taking a walk in the garden.

ERNEST
Did you know that this end of the
garden was the old field in the
game reserve? The clearing over the
rise with the bunchgrass?
 59.

LYDIE
(putting it together)
The place where you kissed me.

Ernest smiles, nods once. As they come over a hill.

ERNEST
I came over the hill and out of the
trees and saw you standing... right
there.

They come out of the shrubs.

ERNEST
Most perfect sight I have ever
seen.

Their POV coming out of the shrubs: in the pink light of the
sun setting behind, in the exact spot where he saw Lydie in
the field, now the garden -- is a MARBLE STATUE OF LYDIE with
her right hand on her hip, looking off into the trees.

Its Ernests earlier POV, during the hunting party, re-

created in white Carrara marble.

ON Lydie. She looks at Ernest and then approaches the statue

like its alive, like it might move or bite. She touches its
face. Turns and looks at Ernest again.

INT. ERNEST AND LYDIES BEDROOM - NIGHT

They are lying in bed, naked. Ernest holds her. Shes looking
at the ceiling. She says the following very slowly, even
sadly.

LYDIE
I dont ever want to think about
how much I love you. Because if God
read my mind and found out-- Hed
kill you to punish me.

EXT. PONCA CITY - DAY

Lydie walks down the street, beginning her shopping errands.

A Woman with a Child looks at Lydie and pulls her Girl
closer. Lydie has a That was odd moment, but continues
walking.
 60.

INT. GENERAL STORE - DAY

LYDIE
(to a Clerk, cheerfully)
Writing paper, please. Usual kind.

The Clerk goes off to get it and Lydie glances down at the
newspaper rack: On top, the Ponca City News, a tabloid type
of paper.

The headline: SCANDAL IN PONCA CITY. Princess of the

Prairie Marries Her Father! A photo of Lydie and Ernest
beneath.

Another: Marlands Daughter Becomes His Bride. (*New York

Times, July 15, 1928.)

CLERK
Here you go, Miss Marland.
(a beat)
Mrs. Marland.

INT. THE PALACE, LYDIES DRESSING ROOM - MORNING

Lydie is getting dressed for a semi-formal affair, looking in

a mirror, trying on different hats. Ernest sits trying on
hats to make her laugh.

ERNEST
So what do the good ladies talk
about at the Founders Luncheon?

LYDIE
Themselves. Whats in the dessert.
Raising money for an opera house in
Tulsa that they are never going to
build.
(re: a feathered hat on
Ernest)
Oh that one suits you.

He appears behind her and puts his arms around her waist.

LYDIE
I suppose someone has to go to
these things.
(re: a hat)
Hows this one?

ERNEST
Kiss me.
(she does)
Again.
(MORE)
 61.

ERNEST (cont'd)
(she does)
Again.
(she does)

LYDIE
(shaking her head)
This could go on for hours.

ERNEST
That was the plan. Again.

EXT. FOUNDERS LUNCHEON, OKLAHOMA CITY - DAY

Its a garden party of society ladies -- or as close as

Oklahoma City gets to society ladies in the late 20s. Well
dressed women, champagne, sun-dresses, hats, and gloves.

Lydie steps up to the table at the entrance where a forty-ish

woman, Mrs. Blake, is the gatekeeper.

LYDIE
(smiling)
Good morning. Lydie Marland.

Mrs. Blake scans, or pretends to scan, a list in front of

her.

MRS. BLAKE
Im afraid youre not on the list,
Mrs. Marland.

LYDIE
(cheerfully)
Oh, but surely I am. I used to be
on the committee.

MRS. BLAKE
Space was very limited this year.
Im sorry, we just didnt have the
room.

Lydies POV: Its a sparsely attended garden party. Lydie

spots Mrs. Marsden, who makes eye contact with her for a
moment. Then quickly turns away.

Lydie recovers quickly, looks back to Mrs. Blake.

LYDIE
(pleasantly)
My mistake.

She smiles. Walks away, out of the garden.

 62.

Once shes out of sight, her smile disappears. She takes off
her hat. Takes a deep breath and collects herself.

INT. ERNEST AND LYDIES BEDROOM - NIGHT

Ernest and Lydie are having sex in bed. He is close to

climaxing and he suddenly stops, rolls off Lydie, next to
her. As they catch their breath.

LYDIE
Why not?

He hesitates. Then--

ERNEST
Virginia got pregnant and that was
the end. Not you. Never you.

HOLD on Lydie, staring away.

EXT. THE PALACE, GARDENS - DAY

Two IRISH WOLFHOUNDS make a fuss near Ernests ROLLS.

Ernest and Lydie stand in the driveway. He is packed for a

business trip, and his car idles.

ERNEST
I wont go unless you promise
youll be all right.

LYDIE
I will pout and brood and be
inconsolable for two weeks. But,
yes, I will be all right.

He kisses her.

LYDIE
Be safe.
(to Bennett)
You too, Spot! And make sure he
sleeps!

Lydie waves as the car pulls away and the wolfhounds pursue.

INT. CAR - CONTINUOUS

Ernest and Bennett. As they depart.

 63.

BENNETT
The women have been damned cruel to
her. Crueller than men could ever
be. We dont have the imagination
for it.

ERNEST
Theyre not counting on the fact
that she has, and always has had,
something they never will.

BENNETT
And whats that?

ERNEST
The talent to be alone.

Lydie gets smaller and smaller as the car recedes. She

whistles for the wolfhounds to follow her inside.

INT. THE PALACE - MORNING

Clay is ironing the morning paper, the Oklahoma Gazeteer. He

folds the paper and looks down at an item at the bottom of
the front page.

A photo of Lydie and Ernest. The headline: FAMILY AFFAIR: New

Secrets From the Shame of Ponca City.

Clay thinks. He removes the page from the newspaper.

INT. THE PALACE, DINING ROOM - NIGHT

Red wine is poured into a glass. Lydie is finishing a

candlelight dinner alone in the enormous room.

Clay waits on her.

LYDIE
Page one and page three of the
paper were missing today. Do you
know anything about that?

Clay hesitates. Then:

CLAY
No maam. Delivery boy must have
made a mistake.

He is now putting food on her plate.

 64.

LYDIE
(quietly)
Please have a word with the
delivery boy. Tell him he doesnt
have to make mistakes any more.
(she looks up at him; a
moment between them)
Tell him its all right.

CLAY
(quietly)
I will, maam. Ill tell him.

Clay starts to leave the room.

LYDIE
And Clay ...

He stops, turns.

LYDIE
Tell him I said thank you. If you
see him.

ON Clay. He bows. We begin to hear music in a MONTAGE:

EXT. THE PALACE, GARDENS - DAY

The music is a very late Beethoven piano sonata, one of his

last. It continues over the next scenes.

Lydie is planting flowers, on her hands and knees.

INT. THE PALACE - AFTERNOON

Lydie, her sleeves rolled up, supervises the placement of a

PAINTING in the cavernous Great Room. It depicts a Ponca
Chief.

EXT. THE PALACE, GARDENS - ANOTHER DAY

Lydie finishes planting a flower, her last one. She looks at

her work. A WIDE SHOT reveals that shes planted hundreds of
them in a line.

INT. THE PALACE, BALLROOM - DUSK

The piano music weve been hearing is Lydies playing, on a

grand piano. Shes getting used to being alone.
 65.

CLAY
(entering)
Mrs. Marland. Theres a woman at
the door who wants to come in.

Lydie barely looks up from her music.

LYDIE
Oh, its too dark to see the
gardens properly now. But she can
have a look if she likes.

CLAY
Mrs. Marland?

Now Lydie looks up.

INT. THE PALACE, HALLWAY - A MOMENT LATER

ON Lydie. She hurries through the very long corridor until

she arrives in the foyer.

Where a couple of servants, bouncer-style, are ready to toss

out a WOMAN IN HER EARLY FIFTIES.

Shes dressed in her best clothes, but they are fifteen years
out of date; ragged at the seams; and of a completely
different color palate than the clothes we have seen thus
far. Her skin and bearing are those of an alcoholic.

WOMAN
Hello, Lydie.

Lydie walks up close to look at her.

Then, the servants are astonished when Lydie takes the WOMAN
by the hand and leads her through the Palace like a child
leading an adult to see some wonder, a rainbow puddle or a
dead bird.

Through the grand rooms of the Palace. The Woman regards the
place almost with suspicion, like the ceiling might fall in
on her.

Lydie brings the Woman to a spot on a sofa. Sits her down.

Reaches for a photo in a frame that has a prominent spot on
the table next to the sofa. Puts it in the Womans hand.

ON the photo. The 5 year-old Lydie we saw earlier, with her

Featureless Doll. Shes in the lap of a WOMAN in her late
twenties.
 66.

The Woman looks at the photo with more brittleness than

nostalgia.

WOMAN
I was pretty, wasnt I?

Lydie sits on the floor with her head on the lap of her
mother, JEAN ROBERTS.

INT. THE PALACE, SMALL DINING ROOM - NIGHT

Lydie and Jean are eating an intimate dinner. The table is

the only warmly lit spot in a dark room.

Clay puts a bowl of vegetables on the table.

LYDIE
No one knew anything. Sarah stopped
getting letters. Then, nothing.

Jean waits until Clay is gone from the room. Watches him
leave.

JEAN
I suppose Virginia told you my
drink troubles, to turn you against
me.

When Jean speaks, its almost always to the objects in front

of her. She hardly ever makes eye contact.

LYDIE
She didnt.
(beat)
She died.

JEAN
I know. It made the national
papers.
(beat)
Just like you.

She leans across the small table. Now she looks Lydie in the
eye.

JEAN
(almost conspiratorially;
but its a compliment)
You did good. You didnt let him
go. That was the right thing. That
was just the right thing.
 67.

Jeans hand is shaking from alcohol withdrawal. She pulls it

back.

LYDIE
If you knew where to find me, I
dont understand why you didnt
come.

Jean is suddenly very serious. Takes a moment.

JEAN
The only thing I ever did in my
life that Im proud of was putting
you on the train that night.

Now her eyes dont move from her plate of vegetables.

JEAN
I was afraid if I ever came to see
you-- it would all go away.

ON Lydie.

INT. THE PALACE, GUEST BEDROOM - NIGHT

LYDIE
(putting towels down on
the dresser)
Ive put two here and there are
more in the closet. But if you need
anything at all, you just come down
the hall and get me.

JEAN
Lydie?

Jean gestures for her to come and sit on the bed next to her.
Which Lydie does. Jean says the following looking at the
floor.

JEAN
(very quietly)
You make sure you protect yourself
in case he ever puts you out. You
put some money away. A little every
time he gives you some. And you
keep a suitcase packed so if you
need to go, you can go. And you
dont need to ask him for nothing.

This advice is the only thing she has to give her daughter.
So Lydie listens, says nothing. Touches Jeans hand.
 68.

Now Lydie stands and kisses her mother on the forehead like a
child. Jean is looking at the floor.

LYDIE
Ernest is back tomorrow. Youll
meet him.

Jean nods, not looking up.

LYDIE
You promise.

Jean nods again.

Lydie leaves, quietly closing the door.

Jean sits on the bed in the dark room. Hold there.

EXT. THE PALACE, LYDIES BEDROOM - NIGHT

Later that night, Lydie is lying awake.

EXT. THE PALACE - MORNING

A couple of prairie chickens are feeding on the grass

outside.

INT. THE PALACE, UPSTAIRS HALL/ GUEST BEDROOM - MORNING

Lydie walks down the hall smiling, holding a breakfast tray

with everything she could think to put on it.

She knocks, opens the door of the guest bedroom...

JEAN IS GONE. Lydie puts the tray down and sits on the bed.

EXT. THE PALACE, LAWNS - DUSK

The wolfhounds sprint ahead to greet Ernest, who is getting

out of a car. Lydie follows. Runs into his arms.

INT. THE PALACE, LIVING ROOM - NIGHT

Lydie and Ernest are on a sofa in front of a fire. He strokes

her hair.

ERNEST
She didnt say goodbye?
 69.

Lydie shakes her head. A moment.

LYDIE
I thought she might not, so I left
money under her towels. A lot.
Thats what she came for. I wanted
to save her the indignity of
asking.
(pause)
I shouldnt have.
(a beat)
Before, she couldnt afford enough
to drink herself to death.

Now, we hear the sound of wood hitting wood, hard.

EXT. THE PLAINS - AFTERNOON

Its a polo mallet hitting a ball. Lydie rides Cyrus in the

polo fields. Shes practicing hitting balls. Its just her.

Pre-lap the sound of a neigh.

INT. THE PALACE, RIDING STABLES - DAY

Lydie combs Cyrus mane as Paul, a stable boy, works nearby.

LYDIE
Woah. Calm. Calm.
(to Paul)
Hes had a mean eye all day.
(to Cyrus)
Why are you grumpy?
(as she looks at his ears)
I wonder if his ear problem is
back.

PAUL
Should I bring him to the vet,
maam?

Cyrus bristles when Paul tries to touch him.

LYDIE
Im not sure hed let you. Hes
been bucking like a rodeo bull.
Ill take him.
(stroking Cyrus; to him)
You need to go to the doctor? Huh?
 70.

EXT. PONCA CITY - DAY

Lydie rides Cyrus through the street, alongside automobiles.

INT. VETERINARY STABLE - DAY

The wide-open, Guernica-like eye of a horse, seen up close.

DR. PENDER, a veterinarian, shines a light into Cyrus eye,

while Lydie pets and comforts him.

PENDER
In my professional opinion, our
friends problem is...

He puts down the light, shakes his head.

PENDER
That he is in a bad mood.

CUT TO:

Lydie is mounted on Cyrus again. Pender strokes him. Lydie

and the vet are talking. Penders a kind old man, and its
nice to talk to someone.

PENDER
Ive always found that horses are
hypochondriacs, while dogs can be
half dead, theyll still wag their
tails and lick your face. Which
begs the question...

LYDIE
Why do we say healthy as a horse
and sick as a dog ?

PENDER
[Exactly.]

MOTHER (O.S.)
Hes worse! Hes worse hes worse.

A MOTHER carrying a REDHEADED BOY, 2 or 3 years old, enters

the stable.

Pender goes to the Redheaded Boy, feeling his forehead.

PENDER
Well cool him down. Go and get
water from the pump.

Mother goes off to get water. Shes terrified.

 71.

LYDIE
(bewildered)
You treat children here?

PENDER
(lifting the Boy)
I help when I can.
(putting the Boy onto a
table)
But Im an expert in bovine joint
diseases, not children.

He opens the Boys mouth, looks down his throat.

LYDIE
Why didnt she take him to a
doctor?

PENDER
She cant afford it. Hardly any of
them can.

LYDIE
Any of who?

PENDER
(feeling the boys throat)
The locals. The workers from the
fields.

LYDIE
But the workers from the fields are
our employees.

EXT. THE PALACE, DRIVEWAY - DAY

Dr. Penders old car pulls up in the driveway amidst a dozen

Rolls Royces, Bentleys, Duesenbergs. A semi-annual meeting of
the Marland Executive Board is in progress.

Lydie gets out of Penders car, carrying the Redheaded Boy.

His Mother follows behind, carrying the boys things.

INT. THE PALACE, FOYER - DAY

Clay is startled by the sight of Lydie charging ahead with

the Redhaded Boy in her arms.
 72.

LYDIE
(to Clay)
A doctors been called. Let me know
the second he arrives.

Lydie starts to go up the stairs with the Redheaded Boy in

her arms, followed by his Mother. But on her way up, Lydie
sees a half open door where the Marland Oil board meeting in
the dining room, over lunch, is taking place.

She stops, turns around, goes to the door. Gestures to the

boys Mother to wait a moment. Lydie goes in.

LYDIE
DYING!

INT. THE PALACE, DINING ROOM - DAY

Heads turn as Lydie, covered in dirt and sweat, stands

holding the Redheaded Boy in her arms.

In this room of gold-plated silverware and floral

arrangements and impeccable suits, her entrance is like Medea
in the last act wandering onto the stage of a comedy of
manners.

LYDIE
I found him dying!

ERNEST
(standing, bewildered)
My God, Lydie. Whats --?

LYDIE
This is how Marland Oil treats the
children of our workers! Cared for
by a horse doctor because he cant
afford a real one!

Lydie seizes a crystal glass of water from a place setting in

front of an EXECUTIVE BOARD MEMBER, pours some on a silk
napkin, places it on the childs forehead.

ERNEST
Lydie, you need to calm down.

Ernest approaches her, but she pulls away.

LYDIE
Us living here in all this,
children dying under our noses!
They should guillotine us, all of
us...
 73.

Clay pokes his head into the room, nodding at Lydie. The
doctor has arrived. Lydie turns around and leaves. The room,
in a quiet state of shock.

INT. THE PALACE, UPSTAIRS HALLWAY - NIGHT

DR. GORDON, 60s, and Lydie confer at the end of the hall. She
shakes the doctors hand, and he leaves. She enters a
bedroom.

INT. THE PALACE, A BEDROOM - NIGHT

Lydie is sitting next to the Redheaded Boy, who is tucked

into bed. The Boy now has his eyes open, and is drinking from
a glass. His mother is asleep.

LYDIE
(to Redheaded Boy)
The doctor says you need to get
some sleep.

Lydie looks at the Boy, who just stares back at her. Then she
gets an idea.

INT. CLOSET - NIGHT

Lydie turns on the light and looks among the suitcases and
boxes. She finds a box toward the back, pulls it out.

INT. THE PALACE, A BEDROOM - NIGHT

Lydie opens the box. Dust rises as she reaches in and pulls
out her FEATURELESS DOLL, which we havent seen since the
early train and oil field scenes. We may notice that the DOLL
has very faint pink stains -- what remains of the blood of
Lydies cuts to her arms all those years ago.

Lydie dusts the doll off, kneels next to the bed where the
Redheaded Boy is lying.

LYDIE
When I was five, this was my best
friend. He has magic powers to make
you sleep. And youre going to
borrow him.

She puts the doll in Redheaded Boys hands.

 74.

LYDIE
What I love best is that his face
is empty. So he can be anybody you
want.

She is quiet for a moment. Then she gets in bed next to

Redheaded Boy. She strokes his hair. Begins to hum him to
sleep.

INT. THE PALACE, HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS

Ernest is watching Lydie lying next to the Redheaded Boy. She

would have made a good mother.

INT. THE PALACE, ERNESTS BEDROOM - LATER

Ernest is already in bed, lying awake, when Lydie gets into

bed beside him.

They are quiet for a beat.

Ernest turns and puts his arm around Lydie. She doesnt
flinch. Shes staring at the wall.

LYDIE
Did you recognize that boy?

A long pause. Ernest shakes his head.

LYDIE
Hes me.

INT. MARLAND OIL OFFICE, CONFERENCE ROOM - DAY

DERRAH
With all due respect, this is
beyond absurd. No company does
this. U.S. Steel couldnt afford
medical care for every single one
of its employees and their
families. It would cost ridiculous
amounts of money.

LYDIE
We make ridiculous amounts of
money.

Meet TOM DERRAH, 40s, the Chief Financial Officer of Marland

Oil.
 75.

DERRAH
We do what employers are supposed
to do. We pay our employees. Were
not their parents, we cant see to
their every need and tuck them into
bed at night. Look, Ernest ...

LYDIE
(suddenly very severe)
You may address me, Mr. Derrah. As
his heir, I am a voting member of
the Board and your superior at this
company, thank you.

Derrah, shaken by her ferocity. He (and we) didnt know she

could talk like this -- a Hapsburg queen putting a
disrespectful courtier in his place. He takes a deep breath,
addresses Lydie.

DERRAH
Look, Mrs. Marland. Lydie. We cant
just think of what we personally
might like to do. We have to think
of the good of the company.

LYDIE
We are the company. The companys
name is our name. We are
responsible. We cant buy people
and use them and then drop them
when they become something other
than names on paychecks to be
signed.

DERRAH
(conciliatory)
Why dont we make a point of
looking into this at the board
meeting in the spring...?

LYDIE
(to Ernest)
Now. They need this now. The only
thing that counts is now.

An uncomfortable moment. Ernest, who has been silently taking

all this in, turns calmly to Derrah.

ERNEST
It seems to me, Tom, that the most
efficient way to do this, is to do
it.
 76.

INT. PONCA CITY CLINIC - DAY

Lydie comes around a corner, where a CROWD of a hundred

people -- Marland Oil employees -- wait in line.

NURSE
(addressing the crowds)
I promise that everyone will be
seen. If youll please just be
patient and form the line over to
this side. This side please, thank
you.

Lydie takes in the scene. Then a voice takes her out of her
reverie.

WOMAN WITH CHILD (O.S.)

Are you in line, maam?

Lydie gets out of the way. Smiles at the Woman.

LYDIE
No. Please, go ahead.

CUT TO:

Headline of Newspaper: NEW YORK SUN. Oklahoma Oil Company to

Guarantee Employee Health Care. Workers Will Receive Free
Doctor, Dental Visits; Medicine. Subhead: A Precedent?

This is being read in a room at ...

INT. STANDARD OIL COMPANY, PARK AVENUE, NY - MORNING

The 1928 New York skyline is visible out the window.

A Young Man with a wry smile.

YOUNG MAN
Free cough syrup for babies today,
storming the Bastille tomorrow. Has
Mr. Rockefeller seen this?

Young Man hands the newspaper to someone sitting across a

desk, and we follow the paper across. Sitting at the desk,
now older and wearing a distinguished suit, is BEN WILCOX.

Wilcox looks at the headline and shakes his head at the

question. Thinking.
 77.

EXT. OUTSIDE THE CLINIC - DAY

Lydie joins Ernest, who is waiting for her outside. People

continue to gather inside the clinic.

Ernest and Lydie walk away, arm in arm.

ERNEST
Its a success.

She nods.

LYDIE
Its not enough. Its not nearly
enough.

EXT. MARLAND OIL REFINERY - DAY

A man hands out envelopes with employee wages.

As various workers open their envelopes, there is a buzz.

Confusion. Men comparing the contents of their envelopes with
those of their neighbors.

ANGLE on a Shift Boss, reading the note enclosed with his

salary, to the Refinery OFFICE WORKER next to him.

SHIFT BOSS
(reading)
Upon careful consideration, Mrs.
Marland and I have decided that it
is necessary to implement not only
a living wage, but a saving wage
for Marland Oil employees. We have
therefore ordered an immediate and
universal wage increase of twenty
percent. Best wishes. E.W. Marland.

Shift Boss puts the note down.

OFFICE WORKER
Say again?

EXT. GRAND STREET, PONCA CITY - DAY

Lydie walks along the street on her way to a store. As she

passes a Woman with Two Children.

WOMAN
Morning, Mrs. Marland.

Lydie smiles, nods. Another, older WOMAN, with shopping bags.

 78.

OLDER WOMAN
Lovely breeze today, Mrs. Marland.

LYDIE
Lovely.

She walks further on. A couple of MEN tip their hats to her.

INT. BENNETTS HOUSE - EVENING

A STRING QUARTET plays Vivaldi. Waiters serve hors doeuvres.

Bennett, the host, pours champagne for Lydie. Fifteen or so

Guests, and Bennetts wife JOYCE, circulate.

BENNETT
(quietly)
That man talking to Claudia is
Reverend Engell. Pastor of First
Methodist.

Bennett indicates JAMES ENGELL, a balding man in his fifties

wearing clerical clothes.

BENNETT
Try and talk to him tonight. Get
him on your side. Rumor has it
youve rubbed him wrong.

He gives her the glass of wine.

BENNETT
As you know, the power dynamic in
any town is a-- delicate balance.
He feels threatened by the way you
and Ernest have been talking to
some of the local honchos.

ON Lydie. She doesnt respond.

BENNETT
Just promise youll try and win him
over. All right?
(lifting his own glass to
toast with her)
Make friends.

INT. BENNETTS HOUSE, DINING ROOM - EVENING

The fifteen guests sit at a long dinner table. The dessert

course.
 79.

ERNEST
Well, the clinics are only the
beginning of what we intend to do.
The next thing is going to be a
school for the field workers. So
they dont always have to be field
workers.

On Engell. Shaw, pouring Ernest more wine.

ERNEST
Lydie and I have decided that Mr.
Horatio Algers stories are fairy
tales unless ambition is backed by
education.

Shaw, his tipsy avuncular self, claps Engell on the shoulder.

SHAW
Seems to me theyre filling the gap
where the Church should be,
Reverend! Theyre upstaging you, my
man!

Engell responds quietly.

ENGELL
The Lord tells us that material
success will not come to all of us
in this lifetime. I think we risk
pride to think that we can
eradicate suffering by worldly
means alone.

ON Lydie.

ERNEST
(with good humor)
Well we cant eliminate it,
Reverend, but we can certainly do
our part to alleviate it.

ENGELL
(smiling, but emphatic)
A paternalistic stance on the part
of employers discourages
independence, Mr. Marland. It
creates a society of deadbeats with
outstretched palms.

Then, a voice from the end of the table.

 80.

LYDIE
What is your first memory, Reverend
Engell?

ENGELL
I cant say I recall, Mrs. Marland.

LYDIE
Mine is rooting through the trash
for food.

Uncomfortable silence at the table. Even Ernest has never

heard this. Mrs. Bennett, bravely, offers--

MRS. BENNETT
Perhaps the ladies wish to retire
for cake?

Lydie doesnt flinch.

LYDIE
(to Engell)
My mother wasnt a deadbeat. She
worked in a factory that made
leather undersoles for shoes.

She takes off her high-heeled shoe and puts it on the table,
indicating the undersole.

LYDIE
See, God didnt make this. A person
had to make this.

Bennett averts his eyes, studies the tablecloth. At a loss.

LYDIE
My mother made some mistakes. But
when youre poor you have to do
everything right. So she had no
second chance. She sent me away and
fell down and never got up again.

She takes a red-wine stained napkin from the Guest next to

her.

LYDIE
But, you see, this is the east
coast, where my mother lived.
(that is, the napkin)
Layer upon layer of history and
misery and the old way of doing
things.
 81.

Now she takes her own napkin from her lap. Its unstained.
Perfect white.

LYDIE
This is Oklahoma.
(a beat)
Things can be different here. We
can give people a chance in hell of
succeeding by providing them with
dignity and security so that if
they fall they can stand up again.
Here. In this world.

She puts the napkins down on the table.

LYDIE
Thats what we intend to do.
(then, smiling to Mrs.
Bennett)
Can you pass the sugar, please?

INT. BENNETTS HOUSE, FOYER - LATER

Two Guests in evening clothes are watching Lydie and Ernest

say goodbye to the Bennetts in the hall.

GUEST
Shes not what I expected.

GUEST 2
What were you expecting?

He shrugs, shakes his head.

GUEST
Any woman with a hundred million
dollars and a dream is dangerous.
But an educated, attractive one --
that is very nearly untenable.

INT. CAR - NIGHT

Lydie leans in and puts her head on Ernests shoulder. He

kisses her on the cheek and leans his head into hers.

ERNEST
You know, you ask an awful lot of
the world.

LYDIE
Who knows? Maybe Ill get it.
 82.

EXT. MARLAND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL - DAY

Lydie is on a construction site, sweating in the heat,

speaking to an architect.

He holds plans in his hands, and Lydie gestures and points at

a wall to the school, apparently changing something about the
design.

LYDIE (O.S.)
Two names?

INT. CONSTRUCTION OFFICE, MARLAND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL - DAY

A hut on the grounds of the future school, construction going

on outside. The school ADMINISTRATOR, Johnson, has given
Lydie a list.

LYDIE
Two people have signed up for the
school when we have the capacity
for four hundred?

JOHNSON
The list was circulated to every
employee, Mrs. Marland. I saw to
it.

LYDIE
Then why?

INT. CAR - DAY

Lydie looks out the window. Her car is heading into the Ponca
Field Refinery.

LYDIE
(to Chauffeur)
Stop here please. Ill walk from
here.

EXT. OIL FIELD - DAY

LOUD NOISE of the oil wells as Lydie walks into the field.
The Ponca Field is not recognizable as the once-desolate
stretch of frontier. Its now a full-fledged industrial site,
the noisiest five miles in America.

From a distance, we watch Lydie say something we cant hear

to the Field Foreman. He nods vigorously.
 83.

LYDIE (O.S.)
(pre-lap, loud)
My name is Lydie Marland and Ill
be very brief.

CUT TO:

ANOTHER, QUIETER PART OF THE FIELD.

LYDIE
First of all, I know youre making
the company proud with the hard
work youre doing in these fields.
Without you, there is no company,
and Mr. Marland and I will never
forget that.

Lydie is standing on a wooden table to address the FIELD

WORKERS in this section -- about two hundred of them -- who
have been gathered together in a large open space. Theres a
bit of Joan of Arc about the whole thing.

LYDIE
But my hope is that you wont
always be working here. My hope is
that youll move up the ladder. At
our company, or at another.

ON the Workers.

LYDIE
But the only way to do that is
through education. Because a man
with a school diploma, whos half
as smart as you are, is right at
this moment getting hired somewhere
to do a job that pays twice as
much. That doesnt seem fair to me.

A few of the MEN look at each other.

LYDIE
I know youve heard of the new
school, and Im leaving a sign-up
list here. The classes will be held
after working hours and I hope... I
hope youll give it some thought.
Thank you for taking the time, and
good day.

FIELD WORKER 1
Excuse me, maam? Can I say
somethin?
 84.

Lydie nods.

FIELD WORKER 1
We sure appreciate what youre
doin, maam, treating us like
people, you of all people. Thing
about all this is, were still
working after working hours. Near
every one of us does overtime,
works second, third jobs. Even with
the new wages, we got to.

General agreement from the men. ON Lydie.

FIELD WORKER 1
If you could wave a magic wand,
maam, and take away the payments
on my house, Id be moren happy to
work normal hours and go to school.
But Im afraid the way things
stand, it just aint rigged in our
favor.

INT. MARLAND OIL BOARD ROOM - DAY

Sitting around the table. The Board, including LYDIE.

BENNETT
We can subsidize the cost of land
on the north side. The company has
a stake in some of those lots, we
can take a voluntary deferral.

ERNEST
Good. What else?

LYDIE
I dont understand why we dont
just provide housing.

BOSKIRK
You give people houses, youre
telling them where to live.

ERNEST
People have their dignity. You
cant feel proud of a home youve
acquired through someone elses
charity.

A moment. Ernest stands, thinking. Then--

 85.

ERNEST
You know, the real reason the men
cant get a leg up is that theyre
borrowing for their houses, then
paying extortionate interest rates
at the banks. Theres the root of
the problem.

LYDIE
So why dont we just buy a bank?

All look at Lydie, and Lydie looks at Ernest, who raises his
eyebrows.

INT. SECURITY STATE BANK OF PONCA CITY - DAY

EMPLOYEES are assembled in the small bank lobby.

ERNEST
Good morning, gentlemen. I want to
let you know that under my
ownership, bank business will carry
on exactly as it was before, with
just one change.
(to the bank manager)
Lance, how much are interest rates
for home loans at the moment?

LANCE
Twelve percent, sir.

ERNEST
All right, then. Now theyll be six
percent.
(tips his hat)
Good day, gentlemen.

General confusion among the bankers. He heads for the door.

ERNEST
(an afterthought)
Come to think of it, make it five.
It just sounds better, doesnt it?

EXT. THE PALACE, LAKE - DAY

People stream into the open wrought-iron gates of the Palace.

A sign that reads: MARLAND ESTATE OPEN HOUSE EVERY SUNDAY --
BRING YOUR FAMILY!

Dozens of people are having picnics, throwing balls, swimming

on the grounds of the Palace.
 86.

LYDIE, in her swimsuit, is having a water fight with some

local kids.

ERNEST watches her from the side of the lake.

ON THE HILL NEAR THE MAIN HOUSE: a CAR pulls up on the road
with a screech, parks at an angle on the grass. Out steps a
MAN IN A SUIT -- JAMES BARKER, bank president, 50s. He may
have been drinking.

Bennett, nearby, approaches. Barker looks straight past

Bennett and spots Ernest -- who is far away at the lake,
unaware of the scene. Barker is headed toward the lake, but
Bennett intercepts and blocks him.

BARKER
(to Bennett)
Get outta the goddamn way. EY. EY!

Bennett holds him back. BARKERS WIFE, by now, has gotten out
of the car and hurries after her husband. Their KIDS (boy and
girl, ages 5 and 9) watch from inside the car.

BARKER
(to Bennett)
You give Ernie Marland a message.
You tell him... You tell him the
president of Ponca National wants
to know, how can other banks
compete with somebody who doesnt
care if he takes a loss?! You tell
me that. You know, Ive got kids,
Bennett...

Barkers Wife now takes him by the arm and directs him back
toward the car. By now, various picnic-goers are watching the
scene.

BARKER
Goddamn circus.
(then, to Bennett, as hes
led away)
You tell him that! You tell him.

Bennett watches them go, then turns back toward the lake,
thinking.

EXT. MARLAND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL, CONSTRUCTION SITE - DAY

LYDIE
But we have to be finished in time.
People have signed up. Classes
start in four days.
 87.

ARCHITECT
Were using every available worker
within 100 miles, maam. Weve sent
to Tulsa for more, but they havent
arrived yet.

She looks up at the building and sees a CREW of dozens

working. But the building is nowhere near finished.

LYDIE
Put me to work.

EXT. MARLAND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL - DAY

The Architect carries a large blueprint, consulting with a

Builder. The camera follows him and pans up to:

LYDIE. She is wearing a kerchief. Standing on a ladder with

her sleeves rolled up. Painting the side of the school. Shes
been at it for hours.

Construction crews do the more skilled work at the other end.

Now, a group of SIX WOMEN approach from behind Lydies back:

Mrs. Marsden, Mrs. Blake, Mrs. Matthews and the SOCIETY
LADIES.

They look at each other when they see Lydie. Shes dirty and
covered in paint.

Mrs. Marsden screws up her courage.

MRS. MARSDEN
Mrs. Marland?! Lydie?

Lydie looks down from the ladder, wipes her brow.

MRS. MARSDEN
They told us at the house youd be
here. We wanted to-- well, Mrs.
Blake will...

MRS. BLAKE
We know that in the past theres
been some confusion about your
invitation to the Founders Lunch.
So we wanted to personally extend
the invitation this year.

MRS. MATTHEWS
Over tea, perhaps.
 88.

LYDIE
Thats very kind. But just now, Im
afraid I have work to do.

She nods politely, smiles. Goes back to work.

Mrs. Marsden, Mrs. Blake, and the society women look at

Lydie; and the unpainted school; and at each other.

CUT TO:

The SOCIETY WOMEN are on ladders and apple-boxes, their fine

clothes rolled up at the sleeves and splattered, helping
Lydie paint the school.

ON Lydie. She turns and looks at fifty-something Mrs. Blake

on the ladder next to her, painting with surprising vigor.
Lydie turns back to the wall shes painting and smiles to
herself.

INT. THE PALACE - NIGHT

Lydie is asleep in her painting clothes. Ernest puts a

blanket over her and turns out the light.

EXT. AROUND THE PALACE - MORNING

Quiet morning on the grounds of the Palace.

ANGLES ON: The topiary of the formal gardens. A DUCK extends

his wings to scare off a rival in the pond.

ON THE TERRACE: Lydie reads a newspaper. Suddenly, a low

rumble. She looks up.

A BIPLANE flies low overhead, then circles and comes back

again.

Lydie stands, puzzled.

Now the biplane gets lower, and lower, and LANDS with a
bounce on the lawn of the Palace.

Clay has come outside, as perplexed as Lydie.

LYDIE
Are we being invaded?

Now the PILOT lifts the glass to the cockpit and removes his
aviator goggles. It is Ernest.
 89.

EXT. THE PALACE, LAWNS - A FEW MINUTES LATER

From a distance, we watch Ernest lead Lydie by the hand

toward the plane. Shes resisting.

ERNEST
I had a lesson this morning,
nothing to it! Your projects have
monopolized your attention long
enough. Today Im monopolizing you.

Pre-lap the sound of the engine.

EXT. SKY ABOVE THE PLAINS - DAY

Virgin prairie. Undulating swells where the land rises and

falls.

Ernest and Lydie flying over a part of the continent that

will never again be Lewis-and-Clark pristine. The last gasps
of the American frontier.

ON LYDIE looking down. Its stunning. Ernest makes the plane

dive lower. She screams as if on a roller coaster.

They fly above part of the NORTH AMERICAN CRANE MIGRATION --

thousands of majestic white birds on their way to their
nesting grounds on the Platte River. Its one of the most
miraculous sites in all of nature.

Now theyre flying low. They pass over a group of FARMKIDS

who are playing stickball.

The kids jump and scream and wave their arms as the plane
passes. Theyre fascinated. Theyve never seen an airplane.

Lydie screams like one of them and motions for Ernest to turn
back and do it again.

The plane turns and zooms just twenty feet over the heads of
the Farmkids. Lydie is loving it, turns back to watch the
jumping children get smaller and smaller.

EXT. FIELDS - SUNSET

Quiet now on the plains. The middle of nowhere. The biplane

on the grass in the distance.

Ernest and Lydie are on the ground. He lies across her lap.
Theres a pile of picked flowers on the ground next to him.
He holds a blue flower up to her. She speaks slowly and
quietly.
 90.

LYDIE
Viola sagittata. Arrow-leaved
violet.

Another.

LYDIE
Evigeron strigosus. Daisy fleabane.

An incantation, a private poetry between them. He holds up

another, but before she can answer:

ERNEST
Do you hate me that youre not a
mother?

She takes a long moment. Then, almost imperceptibly, she

shakes her head and takes the flower in her hand.

LYDIE
Hypoxis hirsuta. Star grass.

A wider shot. The suns setting.

INT. BOARD ROOM, STANDARD OIL COMPANY - DAY

Various SUITS sit around a plush board room. Gilded Age,

robber-baron architecture in dark wood.

SUIT 1
This ones from the Kansas City
Star.
(reading from a newspaper)
Since the market crash, we must
all acknowledge that there is more
to industry than the making of
money. We are going to pay
dividends in happiness to the
community.*

SUIT 2
And the roads in Ponca City are
made of chocolate with candy-cane
trees.

Shaking of heads, a chuckle or two.

SUIT 1
It gets much, much better.
(another newspaper)
"We must seize the chance in this
country for a more enlightened form
of capitalism.
(MORE)
 91.

SUIT 1 (cont'd)
I can no longer conceive toward
what ends we should permit those
who earn extremely large dividends
to give no share of the earnings to
the employees whose intelligence
and honesty have made these large
earnings possible."*

(*Ernest Marland, interviews with Kansas City Star, 1931).

SUIT 3
Hes Red as a fire engine.

Beat. Then the boss speaks. JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER JR, 50s.

ROCKEFELLER
Pursue it. The fields are solid
earners. But make sure his little
utopia doesnt rally around him in
the press. Find something.
Discredit him.

Now Wilcox speaks up.

WILCOX
Does it help, sir, that hes
married to his daughter?

INT. THE PALACE, GREAT ROOM - NIGHT

Two weeks before Christmas, 1932.

Lydie emerges from the kitchen with a tray of red cookies.

LYDIE
Theyre supposed to be Santa
cookies, but they didnt come out
right. They look more like devils,
dont you think? Satan cookies.

CUT TO:

They are decorating a very large Christmas tree. Each manning

a ladder on a different side of the tree.

ERNEST
Morgan wants to broker a deal to
take the financial pressure off us.
So I wont have to run around the
country any more to secure loans.
 92.

LYDIE
I dont understand why you even
need to secure loans. We own our
own bank, for Gods sake.

ERNEST
The new Texas options are in the
tens of millions. Even Marland Oil
needs to be bankrolled that.
(re: an ornament made by a
child. It says LYDIE.)
Look.

She smiles.

ERNEST
Morgans drawn up an agreement that
will get us cash and let us keep
control.

LYDIE
And whats the downside?

ERNEST
I havent found one yet. Standard
would have a stake in the company,
but Morgans found a mom-and-pop
company to take the other chunk.
The Clover Oil Company.

Lydie looks quizzical.

ERNEST
Thats their real name, I swear.
Founded by Mr. Jed Clover. Theyre
Episcopalians from Gunnersburg,
Ohio, with old family money.
Prepared to buy a 22 percent share.
(going down to a stack of
cards in a box)
They even sent a Christmas Card...
Gracious family photo enclosed.

He hands the card across the tree to her ladder.

The photo: A black-and-white portrait of churchy people -- a

mother, father, and four children -- standing in front of a
photo studio background.

LYDIE
The Clovers wish you and yours a
blessed Christmas Season. My God,
the daughters look dour.
 93.

ERNEST
And so would you be if you lived in
Gunnersburg, Ohio.

ERNEST
The Clovers keep Rockefeller at
bay. Investment capital without
bankers. No more running from coast
to coast. More time here with you.
Wheres the downside to that?

The dour Clover daughters stare ahead in the photo.

INT. CHURCH RECTORY - DAY

An Old Woman leads Engell into the living room where a man in
a suit is sitting. Engell looks at the man.

ENGELL
Can I help you?

The man stands, extends his hand.

WILCOX
Good morning, Reverend. My name is
Wilcox. Ben Wilcox.

INT. AN EMPTY BANQUET ROOM IN A PONCA CITY RESTAURANT - NIGHT

Wilcox is sitting on the edge of a long table addressing two

dozen or so Ponca City residents: they include BARKER, the
bank president; a PRIEST; a SCHOOL PRINCIPAL; the PONCA CITY
NEWS EDITOR; some CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS.

Wilcoxs eastern sophistication is suddenly absent. He speaks

in a laid-back, folksy way.

WILCOX
First-off, Id like to thank the
Reverend for gathering you together
today.

He gestures to Engell, who nods.

WILCOX
Now, I know youre busy folks, so
Ill talk straight and fast with
you. Bottom line is that we are
thinking of investing heavily in
this community, but we feel its
important to win over the hearts of
the people first.
(MORE)
 94.

WILCOX (cont'd)
Thats where community leaders like
yourselves come in.

On the faces of those gathered.

WILCOX
You may read about Standard being a
big heartless octopus in the press,
but I cant say that the press has
ever given a big business a fair
shake. Truth is, were just regular
hard-workin folks like yourselves.
We represent the simple values of
self-reliance and, maybe unlike
some other folks you know about, we
insist on the very highest moral
standards for ourselves and for our
families. Cause, as the Book says,
No good fruit can come of a
poisonous tree.

INT. THE PALACE, HALLWAY - DAY

The decorated Christmas tree in the background.

Lydie is taking cards from the box of Christmas cards we saw

earlier.

Removing them from their envelopes and arranging the cards on

a table.

She gets to: The Clovers wish you and yours a blessed
Christmas season with the photo of the Clover family. Lydie
smiles. She looks at the envelope, with a hand-written return
address of Gunnersburg, Ohio.

But Lydie looks to the right of the return address. The

postmark says : PARK AVENUE STATION. NEW YORK, NY 10022.

ON Lydie.

CUT TO:

INT. THE PALACE, ERNESTS OFFICE - DAY

Lydie rifles through stacks of papers on Ernests desk.

She comes upon a letter from John Rockefeller, STANDARD OIL

COMPANY. Now she looks at the engraved return address on the
stationery. 620 Fifth Avenue.
 95.

Clipped to it is the envelope it came in. The envelope says

PARK AVENUE STATION. NEW YORK, NY 10022.

Lydie compares the Clover Oil Christmas Card postmark with

the Standard Oil postmark. Theyre identical.

INT. MARLAND OIL OFFICE, PONCA CITY - DAY

A PHOTOGRAPHER takes a picture of Ernest shaking hands with

John Rockefeller. Then of Ernest and Rockefeller sitting.

EXT. MARLAND OIL OFFICE, PONCA CITY - CONTINUOUS

Lydie hurries out of her car, holding the envelopes.

INT. MARLAND OIL OFFICE, PONCA CITY - A MOMENT LATER

SECRETARY
Theyre still at the signing, Mrs.
Marland. We cant disturb --

Lydie bursts into the room.

INT. MARLAND OIL OFFICE, RECEPTION ROOM - CONTINUOUS

Where Ernest is being congratulated by well-wishers.

A reception to celebrate the signing of the deal. Standard

executives and Marland Oil executives. Drinking champagne and
eating finger foods.

Heads turn as Lydie walks into the room and pulls Ernest
away, by the arm.

ERNEST
(to a Guest, as hes
dragged)
Excuse me.

As soon as theyre a few feet away.

LYDIE
Dont sign the deal.

ERNEST
Done already.
(looking at her face)
Are you all right?
 96.

LYDIE
Have you ever met Jed Clover and
his family?

ERNEST
Ive been corresponding with him
for months--

LYDIE
No, in person. Have you ever laid
eyes on him?

Ernest very slightly shakes his head. Lydie produces TWO

ENVELOPES and holds them in front of Ernest.

LYDIE
The postmarks.

She hands him the envelope from the Clover Christmas card,
then the one from Standard Oil. Ernest looks at the
postmarks. Identical.

LYDIE
Jed Clover doesnt exist. Hes a
front. He is Standard Oil.

ERNEST
But thats fraud.

LYDIE
Not if they did the paperwork to
incorporate as Clover Oil.

Now Ernest is in complete shock. He has to sit down.

ERNEST
The stock we sold to Rockefeller
plus the stock to the Clovers --

LYDIE
The non-existent Clovers.

ERNEST
-- amounts to fifty-five percent.
Controlling interest in the
company.

Ernest, now sitting, looks across the room to where John

Rockefeller is having his picture taken. Smiling.

ERNEST
That sonofabitch just bought
Marland Oil.
 97.

INT. THE PALACE, ERNESTS OFFICE - LATE NIGHT

Stacks of documents around them, a bottle of whiskey.

BENNETT
What can we do?

ERNEST
Stay cordial. Hope for the best.
(beat)
Maybe theyll sit back and collect
their checks and wont interfere.

INT. MARLAND OIL OFFICE, PONCA CITY - DAY

Wilcox enters, speaks to the Receptionist.

RECEPTIONIST (O.S.)
Mr. Bennett, the gentleman from
Standard is here.

INT. MARLAND OIL BOARD ROOM - DAY

The eleven board members are standing around getting coffee

and settling in.

The Receptionist leaves as Wilcox enters the room with a

briefcase. Bennett goes to him.

BENNETT
(shakes his hand)
Ben, my friend. Ernest will be
happy to see you back in the Outlet
again.

WILCOX
Mr. Marland wont be attending
today.

Wilcox sits in Ernests seat, begins to remove documents from

a briefcase.

WILCOX
(pre-lap)
The first item for discussion on
your list will be the leadership
changes.

CUT TO:

A moment later. Hes passing around papers.

 98.

WILCOX
Standard has a responsibility to
maintain its aura of respectability
to its shareholders. There are
aspects of Mr. Marlands personal
life that are not well regarded in
the press and we no longer wish to
have him as the public face of the
company.

BOSKIRK
But his name is the name of the
company. How can he not be the
public face?

WILCOX
We will also be phasing out the use
of the name Marland Oil.

The board members look at each other.

WILCOX
Now, Id like to jump right in to
our evaluation of the expenditures
report.

He picks up a copy of the papers hes been passing.

WILCOX
Expenses to be eliminated are
flagged in the right column and
include but are not limited to:
Subsidized home loans. Employee
medical benefits. The operation of
Marland Industrial School. Stock
grants, life and accident insurance
for employees.
(amused at this one)
Free golf and equestrian lessons.
(turning a page)
Moving on to page two...

INT. MARLAND OIL BOARD ROOM - LATER

The meeting is emptying out. Wilcox is packing up his papers.

He lifts his briefcase from the table and walks out the door,
running into ERNEST.

Who has been waiting for him at the door to the board room.
Wilcox steps to the side, Ernest blocks his exit. Now theyre
face to face.
 99.

ERNEST
(quietly)
Youre not going to win.

WILCOX
(equally quiet)
Weve already won.

LYDIE (O.S.)
Ernest?

He turns. Lydie waits with her hand extended for him to come.
For a moment, its a triangle of the three standing within a
few feet of each other. Wilcox looks at Lydie. Its the first
time he has seen her since the day he left Ponca City.

Now Ernest turns from him, goes to Lydie, takes her hand. As
she leads him away, he looks back to Wilcox.

INT. THE PALACE, GREAT ROOM - EVENING

Lydie is pacing the room, smoking a cigarette.

LYDIE
The only way is to start a
revolution. If the town rises up
against it, Rockefeller wont want
the bad press. Hes got enough anti-
trust trouble as it is...

BENNETT
Its too late, Lydie. Theyve
gotten to people all around town
already.

LYDIE
Why would people act against their
own interests?

Bennett holds up a Ponca City News headline: RISE OF THE

TYCOON. Under the headline is the FAMILY PHOTO of ERNEST,
VIRGINIA, and the 6 YEAR-OLD LYDIE that we saw taken in 1906.
Its next to a WEDDING PHOTO of Ernest and Lydie.

BENNETT
Theyve convinced people that you
two are the Macbeths, that theyve
all been duped. Youre not morally
fit to be pillars of the community
and Standard is doing the people of
Ponca City a favor by taking over.
 100.

LYDIE
Who, for instance? Who have they
convinced of this?

BENNETT
Everyone. The YMCA. Walt at the
American Legion. Tucker and Snow in
the mayors office. The press.
Obviously.

He slaps and tosses the newspaper.

BENNETT
For Gods sake, Reverend Engell has
been preaching that youre the
devil, that Standard is saving the
city from going up in flames like
Gomorrah.

Lydie extinguishes whats left of her cigarette.

LYDIE
Ill go have a talk with Engell
tomorrow.
(lighting another
cigarette)
The devils going to church.

EXT. CHURCH, PONCA CITY - MORNING

Lydie, dressed formally in a hat, hurries to the door of the

church. The service has already started.

INT. CHURCH - MORNING

The celebrant, ENGELL, stands and goes to the podium. From

this height, he can see the congregation.

ENGELL
The reading today is from the Book
of--

Lydie discreetly enters and takes a seat in a pew.

Engell focuses on Lydie in the congregation. He thinks.

Now, he turns the Bible page from where he was going to read
and goes to a new one.

ENGELL
From the Book of Genesis. Chapter
19.
(MORE)
 101.

ENGELL (cont'd)
Thus it came to pass: when God
destroyed the Cities of the Plain,
Lot was afraid to stay in Zoar. He
and his two daughters went up from
Zoar and settled in the hill
country, where he lived with his
two daughters in a cave.

On Lydie.

ENGELL (O.S.)
The older one said to the younger:
"Our father is getting old, and
there is not a man on earth to
unite with us. Come, let us ply our
father with wine and then lie with
him, that we may have offspring by
our father.

Whispering, turning of heads. Even children seem to be

buzzing.

ENGELL
So that night they plied their
father with wine, and the older one
went in and lay with her father;
but he was not aware of her lying
down or her getting up. Next day
the older one said to the younger:
Last night it was I who lay with
my father.

By now, Lydie can feel a hundred sets of eyes on her.

She looks to the side of her for a sympathetic gaze.

Suddenly, the WOMAN next to her looks down at her lap.

Then all the churchgoers around Lydie seem suddenly

fascinated by their hands or laps. None will meet her eyes.

She stands. She and Engell are the only people in the room
standing. They stare at each other.

Lydie turns and leaves the church, slowly, with dignity, her
shoes echoing in the large room.

INT. HOTEL, PONCA CITY - EVENING

Wilcox, drinking a glass of port. A stack of documents on the

table in front of him.

The telephone rings. Wilcox answers.

 102.

WILCOX
Hello. Thank you, Ill hold.

Wilcox picks up the phone and its wire and goes to stand by
the window.

WILCOX
Yes, sir. Ive been going through
the statements and I have some very
good news.

Wilcox looks out the window.

DERRAH (O.S.)
(pre-lap)
No, I wont call it that because
its not malfeasance.

INT. MARLAND OIL OFFICE, ERNESTS OFFICE - DAY

DERRAH
(arguing emphatically)
He never drew a clear line between
the books of the company and his
own accounts. If the company needed
something, hed write a personal
check. If salaries needed to be
paid, Ernest paid them out of
pocket. As a way of doing business,
yes, it was a little bit...

WILCOX
Illegal?

DERRAH
I was going to say old-fashioned.

WILCOX
This is no longer Mr. Marlands
personal duchy.
(standing)
A substantial portion of the funds
used for building his house can be
traced back to company accounts.
(closing his briefcase)
The Marland house is now an asset
of the Standard Oil company. We are
filing for a court order for him to
vacate by the first of the year.
Thank you, Mr. Derrah. That will be
all.
 103.

INT. ERNESTS CAR - DAY

Driving from Oklahoma City to Ponca City. Bennett hands

Ernest a thick stack of papers.

BENNETT
These are the terms of the suits.
Theyre challenging just about
every one of your assets.

ERNEST
But not the personal accounts.

BENNETT
On paper, the personal accounts
arent distinguished from the
business accounts.

It takes a moment for this to sink in. Then, hope:

ERNEST
They cant touch the stocks. The
stocks are in Lydies name. Weve
got the stocks.

BENNETT
... which, since the Crash, arent
worth the paper theyre printed on.

Beat. Ernest steels himself.

ERNEST
The house.

Bennett nods once, cant even look at Ernest.

BENNETT
(quiet, shaking his head)
That was the first thing they went
after.

This is a bomb exploding and Ernest sinks down into the

crater it left behind. He looks out the window. The car is
passing the PONCA CITY RAILYARDS.

ERNESTS P.O.V.: a PAINTER, 30s, is at work on one of the

tanker cars. He has a bucket of BLUE PAINT. He is painting
over the red Marland Oils logo on a tanker, replacing it with
the blue logo for STANDARD OIL.

The painter has already finished work on a few tanker cars:

there are blue cars to his left, red to his right.
 104.

ERNEST
(to Driver)
Stop the car.

Driver, puzzled.

ERNEST
STOP THE CAR.

EXT. ROAD ADJACENT TRAINYARD - DAY

Ernest gets out of the car. He stomps like Goliath toward the
PAINTER, who is working on a step-ladder. Painters back is
turned to the road so he doesnt see Ernest approach.

BENNETT
(in the distance)
Ernest?

Ernest YANKS the Painter off the step-ladder, throwing him to

the ground. His bucket spills on the ground, blue paint
everywhere. On the Painter, on Ernest.

ERNEST
Who instructed you to do this?! I
didnt instruct you to do this!

Painter, on the ground, bruised, moaning. By now Bennett has

caught up.

BENNETT
ERNEST!

ERNEST
WHO TOLD YOU TO DO THIS?

Ernest, half-blue like a Scot in war-paint, kicks the

painter.

PAINTER
(disoriented, crouching)
The company office...

BENNETT
(restraining him)
Ernest!

ERNEST
IM the office, you asshole! IM
the company! IM THE COMPANY!!

Before Ernest can kick the Painter again, Bennett drags him
back toward the car. Painter stands, catching his breath.
 105.

He watches this madman, who is still straining back toward

him, all daggers.

ERNEST
(as hes pulled back)
IM THE COMPANY! IM THE COMPANY!!
IM THE COMPANY! IM THE COMPANY!!

EXT. THE PALACE, GARDENS - NIGHT

Lydie comes outside wearing a shawl. Scans the gardens.

She spots Ernest sitting at the base of the statue of her.

AT THE STATUE: Ernest, parts of his skin crusted with blue

paint, is drinking, nearly drunk. A bottle of whiskey open.

Lydie sits on the ground next to him.

ERNEST
You know, my father -- your
grandfather, your father-in-law --
never lived to see me make a
fortune. But [on the other hand] he
never lived to see me lose it.

Another drink. Lydie discreetly puts the bottle beyond his

reach. Puts her arm around him.

ERNEST
Old Man Marland said I should have
settled down in Pittsburgh. He said
my problem was, I was always
looking at the terra incognita part
of a map. Here be monsters. Wanting
the impossible, looking for the
thing over the horizon. Read the
Book of Proverbs, boy. Only the
eyes of a fool wander to the ends
of the earth. Sonofabitch was
right.

INT. THE PALACE, LIVING ROOM - EVENING

Handing Ernest a document to sign.

BOSKIRK
Part of the agreement is that you
leave Ponca City. They feel your
presence would be a distraction to
the new board.
 106.

Ernest is silent. Lydie jumps in.

LYDIE
(brightly; trying to buoy
him up)
Well go to Oklahoma City. Ive
always wanted to try living in
Oklahoma City.

She takes his hand, but hes very, very low.

INT. THE PALACE, HALLWAY - DAY

Wilcox walks down the hall with a group of men in suits.

Their footsteps echo on the tiles. They walk as if they own

the place, which, in fact, they do.

Lydie, her hair in a kerchief, is carrying a box of her

things down the hall. Moving out is in progress.

She comes around a corner and locks eyes with Wilcox. He

looks at her and she stares straight back at him.

He braces for rage, but what he gets is something more like

pity.

LYDIE
I defended you once. I was wrong.

Then she continues the way she was going.

Wilcox stands alone, listening to her footsteps recede.

EXT. THE PALACE, LAWN - DAY

LYDIE
Joseph.

Lydie is saying goodbye to the servants. They stand in a

line. One by one she shakes their hands, looks into their
eyes, and says their names.

LYDIE
Ada.

LYDIE
Michael.

Now shes at the end of the line, where Clay stands.

 107.

LYDIE
Clay.

She looks at him for a long time.

She takes his hand, then thinks again and embraces him.

LYDIE
You will go very far in the world.

We pull out to a wide shot of Lydie embracing Clay at the end

of the line of servants on the lawn.

FADE TO BLACK.

Now, over black: bright trumpet music and the crow of a

rooster.

The words: NEWS AT HOME in large font fill the screen.

VOICE OF ANNOUNCER
Meanwhile, back in the heartland,
the suffering continues!

Were watching a black-and-white RKO-Path newsreel. The

Announcers voice is bright and exclamatory.

VOICE OF ANNOUNCER
The dust storms first spotted in
South Dakota have continued to
spread over the Great Plains,
leaving their trail of misery
behind them!

Documentary footage of a great black cloud on the horizon. A

farm made barren. A car buried in three feet of dust. A
farmer and his family standing, looking at the wasteland that
was their field.

VOICE OF ANNOUNCER
Crops wither north and south! Black
snow falls in Chicago! As elections
loom, an Oklahoma farmer asks, Who
will help and how long can this go
on?

The RKO trumpets sound again.

VOICE OF ANNOUNCER
This has been RKOs News on Parade!
For March 1934. Until next time...

The Path cock crows again. Screen fades to black in a ...

 108.

INT. MOVIE THEATER, OKLAHOMA CITY - DAY

Lydie, dressed inconspicuously in a hat, sits alone watching.

The screen now fades into the RKO transmitter logo -- a

radio tower on top of a globe that looks like the tower of an
oil derrick. Then, music and the main title of George Cukors
Little Women.

EXT. OKLAHOMA CITY COTTAGE - LATER THAT DAY

Outside, it is the dead of winter. Snow on the ground. Lydie

walks toward a small cottage outside Oklahoma City carrying
grocery bags. This is her new home.

INT. OKLAHOMA CITY COTTAGE - DAY

Lydie opens the door.

LYDIE
Ernest?

No response. She puts down her bags and looks into the living
room.

Ernest sits in a chair, looking at the wall, lost in thought.

INT. OKLAHOMA CITY COTTAGE, KITCHEN - EVENING

ERNEST
(touching a radiator)
I think I can feel it now.

He blows out a match and sits at the dinner table with Lydie,
who is wearing a coat.

LYDIE
You didnt tell me about lunch with
Bennett.

ERNEST
(looking down, cutting his
food)
He didnt show.
(beat)
Twenty years of working for me, he
was never a minute late. Now hes
always got a last-minute conflict.

Silence for a long moment.

 109.

LYDIE
Ive been thinking about something.
(a beat)
Ive been thinking you should run
for governor.

More silence.

LYDIE
The elections are coming, you need
a job. Governor is a job.

Now he finally looks up from his food.

ERNEST
Dont.

LYDIE
Were down, but so is all of
Oklahoma--

ERNEST
Just dont.

LYDIE
You could inspire people, you
could.--

ERNEST
FOR CHRISTS SAKE!

He throws down his fork, startling her. Suddenly, hes

volcanic.

ERNEST
OPEN YOUR EYES, LYDIE! Stop acting
like a goddamned child! Its my
fault I raised you in the land of
sugar-plum fairies, but now its
over! Ive failed you, and you need
to live in the WORLD. Its a wolf
world full of wolves and I was
stupid to think something else.
Look around you! THIS IS WHAT THERE
IS.

He tosses his plate at the wall and it shatters.

ERNEST
This is all there is.

He gets up, knocking his chair over, and leaves the room.
Lydie hears the front door slam.
 110.

INT. OKLAHOMA CITY COTTAGE, LIVING ROOM - LATER

Lydie sits in a chair, in the dark.

EXT. OKLAHOMA CITY COTTAGE - NIGHT

It is snowing.

Lydie leaves the house in her coat. The car is there. She
scans the lawn. No Ernest.

She walks around the side of the house, sees a shape in the
snow. It is Ernest. On the ground, shivering, covered in
snow.

Lydie hurries to him. She takes off her coat and places it on
him like a blanket.

She sits in the snow next to him and lifts him off the
ground, against her breast. She sits rocking him in her arms.

LYDIE
(whispers)
Come back inside. Come back. Come
back. Come back.

We pull out to a wide shot of the two of them in the snow,

Lydie cradling Ernest, like a mother and child. Shes rocking
him back to life, until hes no longer numb. Hold there.

ERNEST (O.S.)
(echo-ey, through a
microphone)
Im standing in front of you today
having lost my job...

INT. OKLAHOMA DEMOCRATIC PARTY STATE HEADQUARTERS - DAY

Lydie watches Ernest walk into an office within an office.

ERNEST (O.S.)
My money. My house. Ive lost
nearly everything. Except my will
to continue.

Lydie watches the scene through a large window to the

interior office.

It plays out in pantomime. Ernest shakes hands with a few

PARTY OFFICIALS. Sits at a table with them. Starts to talk.
 111.

ERNEST (O.S.)
Ive been disowned by my former
colleagues, who think I should feel
ashamed of how low Ive been
brought in the last two years.

CUT TO:

A large BANNER that says MARLAND FOR GOVERNOR. We are at a...

EXT. MARLAND FOR GOVERNOR RALLY - DAY

Hes at a podium on a stage.

The CROWD consists mostly of farmers and laborers. The

victims of the Dust Bowl. Tom Joad is probably here.

There is a breaking quality in Ernests voice now. His tone

is no longer the assured tone of a mogul but is more nuanced,
vulnerable. More human.

ERNEST
But Im standing here to tell you I
feel just the opposite. Ive never
felt prouder to be an Oklahoman
than I do today, here with you.

There is literally dust blowing throughout the scene. People

hold signs like $50 Old Age Pensions and Those Who Till
the Land Should Own It.

ERNEST
Because now that Ive suffered some
of what the people of this state
are suffering every day, I can
finally look them in the eye. I can
look you in the eye.

EXT. SOONER SOCIETY DINNER, GOVERNORS MANSION - NIGHT

M.C.
Ladies and gentlemen, our host and
keynote speaker, the governor of
the great state of Oklahoma -- Mr.
Ernest Marland.

Rousing applause.

Find Ernest sitting at a table with Lydie. They are four

years older. Their formal clothes are not ostentatious, as
they were in the high decadent period. The colors are more
muted and the excessiveness of the Jazz Age is gone.
 112.

Ernest stands, walks toward the podium. Lydie watches him.

(The following speech, though four years later in time, plays

like a continuation of the campaign speech).

ERNEST (O.S.)
(pre-lap)
Ive changed a lot in the last few
years. Lots of things have changed.
Even the land has changed.

CUT TO:

Hes been speaking for a few minutes. At a microphone.

ERNEST
There is no longer a frontier left
in America. Weve filled in all the
spaces on the map and we live in
the Garden after the Fall. We woke
up from our pioneer dream to find
that there was no perfect world to
be found here.
(beat)
So now I say the time for talk is
done. Now is the time for action
and work, and all that counts is
Now. Someone much wiser than I am
taught me that.

ON Lydie.

ERNEST
I do still believe we can make
things better in America, at least
a little bit. Well start in
Oklahoma. Well go to Washington,
maybe someday to the White House or
to the moon. But weve got to keep
working, we have no other choice.
There is no Promised Land and there
is no shining city past the
horizon.
(then, off-book; directed
at Lydie)
We are the shining city. We are the
frontiers.

LATER.

People are dancing in the room. An orchestral version of the

song Sometimes Im Happy.
 113.

Ernest leaves a GROUP of supporters near the stage and is

apprehended by a young, businesslike AIDE.

AIDE
Sir? Senator Thomas is waiting to
do the photos.

But Ernest is looking elsewhere. His POV: Lydie is standing

alone.

ERNEST
(eyes fixed on Lydie)
The Senator can wait. Right now, I
need to dance with my wife.

Ernest leaves the Aide and walks across the floor. He taps
Lydie on the shoulder. She turns. Smiles. He offers his hand.

She takes it and they start to dance. She puts her head on
his shoulder.

We slowly move out to a wide shot. It has been 15 years now

since we saw them dance at the Fourth of July party at the
Grand Avenue Mansion. While theyre dancing, each is not
aware of anyone or anything but the other.

INT. GOVERNORS MANSION, DRAWING ROOM - MORNING

Ernest and Lydie are still wearing their clothes from the
dance, asleep on the couch from the night before. Ernest
opens his eyes. Gently maneuvers from her embrace.

He gives her another pillow. Takes a moment to look at her.

In the morning light, shes beautiful.

He goes into the hall.

INT. GOVERNORS MANSION, HALLWAY - DAY

In silhouette. Ernest suddenly stops. Leans over. Tries to

balance himself on the wall. His legs give out. He falls.

He is dead.

INT. GOVERNORS MANSION, DRAWING ROOM - CONTINUOUS

Lydie opens her eyes when she hears the thud on the floor.
 114.

EXT. GRAVEYARD, PONCA CITY - DAY

Ernests funeral. Various politicians, Democratic Party

officials, former business associates; Bennett; Boskirk; Mrs.
Marsden; some friends and former friends.

A Minister reads the mandatory there-is-a-season passage.

Lydie, wearing black, stands looking at the casket.

EXT. GRAVEYARD, PARKING LOT - AFTERNOON

After the funeral. Guests socialize.

Lydie has lingered at the grave. Two WOMEN look at her.

WOMAN 1
She hasnt said a word. Just
stopped talking.

WOMAN 2
Its bad luck, burying your husband
and your father on the same day.

CUT TO:

Now BENNETT approaches Lydie. He reaches out his hand to take

Lydies, but she doesnt offer hers back.

She looks him in the eye and walks away, alone.

INT. PONCA CITY HOTEL - NIGHT

Lydie lies in bed, looking at the place where Ernest should

be.

LATER

Now the bed is empty.

We move slowly through the room to FIND LYDIE, sitting on the

floor next to a table. She is rocking very slightly back and
forth. Looking down, with a kind of fascination, at her arms.

There are the remains of the cuts from when she was five.

They are still very faintly visible, pink lines at odd

angles. Her fingers move over them, as if theyre hieroglyphs
to be deciphered.

Then she stops. Shes made a decision.

 115.

EXT. THE PLAINS - PRE-DAWN

The fog just before the sun has risen. Headlights.

EXT. THE PALACE, GARDENS - PRE-DAWN

A car drives over grass through the now-neglected formal

gardens of the Palace.

The car stops near the STATUE OF LYDIE, its headlights

trained on the white marble figure. The white statue looks
like an apparition, a ghost, in the glare of the headlights.

Weeds and grass are grown up around the statue.

The car door opens and LYDIE gets out, leaving the headlights
on. She walks to the statue.

Now we realize shes carrying something in her hand. Its a

tire iron.

She SMASHES the statue of herself.

Shes hitting it again and again, until the face is broken in

a dozen places and it is all but destroyed.

INT. HIGHWAY 24 MOTEL, INDEPENDENCE, MISSOURI - NIGHT

Brown curtains and an auto-garage calendar on the wall.

A 50-ish MOTEL WOMAN is glancing through an issue of Look

Magazine (House Beautiful with Mrs. Jameson). A fan blowing
her hair.

Motel Woman looks up when she hears a car outside and shes
lit momentarily by headlights through the window. The car
parks. Sleigh-bells on the door ring when it opens.

A woman dressed in black clothes with uncombed hair enters.

MOTEL WOMAN
Just yourself?

Lydie nods.

MOTEL WOMAN
Three dollars.

Lydie takes the money out of her pocketbook, places it on

Look Magazine.
 116.

MOTEL WOMAN
Sign your name here for me.

Motel Woman slides the guest book across the desk.

Lydie takes the pen-on-a-string in her hand and writes: MISS

JEAN ROBERTS.

The Motel Woman slides Lydie a key.

MOTEL WOMAN
Warm tonight.

Lydie nods. She turns and disappears out the door.

THEN, A SLOW
FADE TO BLACK.

WHERE WE HOLD FOR A MOMENT IN THE DARK.

Then, the sound of breathing. Then loud knocking.

INT. SUPPLY CLOSET - NIGHT

A REPLAY of a scene we saw earlier. The sound of knocking

stops.

Then: a note, scrawled on a piece of Marriott paper, slips

under the door. The woman we knew as the Maid looks down at
it.

It says: IS YOUR NAME LYDIE?

ON Lydie. She looks down at the note, lowers herself to the

floor.

INT. HOTEL HALLWAY - CONTINUOUS

The Man from the elevator waits on the other side of the
door.

A moment. Nothing. Then, the paper, turned over, is slipped

back under the door. There is something written on the
reverse in pencil.

It reads, in writing that looks like a childs:

NOT ANY MORE

On the MAN. Who hesitates, then:

 117.

MAN
(very gently)
Lydie, its Clay.

He hears the door of the supply closet unlock, and the door
creaks open.

His POV: Sitting on the floor is Lydie. Age 76, the same age
as the century. She looks down at her feet for a long
moment, then finally, up at the Man.

LYDIE
Clay.

INT. BELTWAY DINER - DAY

Lydie and Clay are sitting at a booth in a greasy-spoon

diner. Hes showing her a photo.

CLAY
Thats them. Twins. Married,
divorced, married again. After the
Palace, I worked for an insurance
company, then an advertising firm.
Then IBM, right back in Ponca City.

A WAITRESS arrives with cups of coffee for them both.

CLAY
(now, because he can no
longer skirt the issue)
Northcutt stayed at the hotel a
month ago. He thought he saw you.

Lydie looks down into her coffee.

CLAY
Thereve been so many sightings
over the years, but by the time I
could follow them up, youd
disappeared again.

Clay reaches into his briefcase and slides some papers across
the table to Lydie.

Its a magazine. The Saturday Evening Post. A large picture

of Lydie at the governors inauguration, more than thirty
years before. The headline reads: GOVERNORS WIDOW VANISHES:
WHERE IS LYDIE MARLAND? (*Saturday Evening Post, November 22,
1958).

Another article: HAVE YOU SEEN LYDIE MARLAND? (*Washington

Post, October 23, 1955).
 118.

A Tulsa newspaper, 1974. A blurry photo, with a circle around

a figure in the background. FACE TO FACE WITH A GHOST: IS
THIS WOMAN MRS. MARLAND?

CLAY
The FBI stopped looking twenty
years ago. They think you died.

LYDIE
Theyre right, I suppose.

EXT. BELTWAY DINER, PARKING LOT - LATER THAT NIGHT

Moving down from the neon glow of the diner sign to the
purple Cutlasses and angular Cadillacs of 1976.

LYDIE (O.S.)
The truth isnt romantic. The truth
is that we were naive.

Were now on Lydie and Clay as they walk.

LYDIE
We thought, if this kind of
happiness is attainable for us,
then anything is attainable for
anyone. But it was an imaginary
world we lived in. It was never a
possible world.

Theyve now arrived at his rental car.

LYDIE
The worst sin is to misremember.

A moment.

CLAY
Theyre going to tear down the
Palace.

ON Lydie.

CLAY
Some developers want to buy the
property. They want to build 200
semi-detached houses, something
like that.

LYDIE
That has nothing to do with me.
 119.

CLAY
Come back to Ponca City. Convince
them not to knock down your house.

He touches her on the shoulder. She looks away.

CLAY
Its time now. Come home.

Lydie bristles at the word. While she looks away, the red
neon light illuminates her face. Then, back to him.

LYDIE
(unsentimentally)
If I look back, I will turn to salt
and I will die.

Now she turns and goes away, carrying a plastic supermarket

bag, toward the dark sidewalk and the bus stop.

CLAY
Mrs. Marland --

She stops and turns.

CLAY
I never believed all the fuss was
because you were in love with your
father. I think it was because you
were in love with your husband. To
some people thats a very
frightening thing.

Lydie, caught off-guard by this; she thinks, turns, and

continues toward the bus stop.

INT. HOTEL BATHROOM, MARRIOTT - DAY

Lydie is back at work at the hotel. Cleaning a bathtub. The

shower head is on a long, snake-like extension. She uses it
to wash away the bleach in the bathtub.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, she starts CRYING.

She hasnt cried like this since before Ernest died, or maybe
even since she was sent to Ponca City. Its a whole lifetime
worth of emotion coming out all at once. Weeping like a
child.

Sitting on the floor next to the bathtub, she takes the

shower-head and points it at her face. Water goes everywhere.
 120.

A wider shot of Lydie, in her soaked hotel uniform, sitting

with her eyes closed, letting the warm water wash over her.

EXT. PAYPHONE OUTSIDE THE MARRIOTT - DAY

LYDIE
Clay?

CUT TO:

An AERIAL VIEW. America from above. The Great Plains.

INT. TWA 767 - DAY

It is the POV of Lydie. The last time she was on a plane, it

was a biplane and Ernest was flying.

Now the landscape of the Plains is one of interstates,

industrial parks, and football fields.

FLIGHT ATTENDANT (O.S.)

Ladies and gentlemen, please put
your seats in the full upright
position for landing...

EXT. THE PALACE - DUSK

ANGLE on: A wheel runs over some weeds on an overgrown road,

and stops. A foot steps out of a door.

A TAXI has pulled up in a driveway, and Lydie is paying the

Driver.

The taxi pulls away and she looks up.

Her POV: The Palace, which is now in disrepair. She hasnt

seen it in 40 years. Its falling apart.

There is a chain-link fence around the property, which local

kids have cut a hole through. LYDIE GOES THROUGH IT.

Broken windows. An abandoned, burnt out car in front. Boarded

up doors. Graffiti. One of the boarded up doors has a human-
sized space in it. LYDIE ENTERS.

INT. THE RUINS OF THE PALACE - DUSK

More graffiti, beer cans, condom wrappers. Some wooden crates

with furniture inside. Some of the original furniture of the
house, colonized by generations of spiders.
 121.

An old couch thats been brought in by local kids. A couple

of hypodermics.

And its still the grandest place on the Great Plains.

Even age hasnt diminished the soaring scale and the

cathedral buttresses. The frescoed ceilings and the marble
vaults, the light inside.

Now Lydie steps into the main foyer. A pile of debris that
looks like a barricade from a street riot.

Pieces of antique furniture, curtains covered in 3 inches of

dust, garden vases, architectural flourishes that have fallen
down over the years, and a white fragment poking through the
pile. It is the head of the statue of Lydie.

Lydie takes it in her hands and looks down at it. Its like
leaning into a reflecting pool and seeing a ghost of herself.

INT. PONCA CITY GOLF CLUB - DAY

CREW GUY (O.S.)

STRIKING!

Lydie is sitting in a chair, in a room with a mural of men on

horses in the background. Bright lights shine in her eyes,
and she squints.

Another part of the room:

NEWS 7 REPORTER
(to a Cameraman)
How wide are you? Getting the
background, yeah?
(she makes an imaginary
box around her head)
Is that safe for the boom?

Back to Lydie. Clay goes to Lydie in her chair.

CLAY
Youre all right?

Lydie nods. The camera focuses on her. In her deteriorated

state, sitting in front of a camera is a kind of heroism.

NEWS 7 REPORTER (O.S.)

The Marland Mansion was the scene
of a storied past throughout the
late 1920s and 30s...
 122.

EXT. THE PALACE - DAY

The News 7 Reporter speaks into a microphone in front of the

disintegrating Palace.

NEWS 7 REPORTER
.... the family home of a man and
woman once worth well over 100
million dollars. Some local
residents still remember the
elaborate picnics and pool parties
the Marlands would host for the
people of the city.

CUT TO: Black and white photos that depict scenes weve seen
in the film. The formal gardens. Townspeople in the lake.
Lydie and Ernest standing in the ballroom.

NEWS 7 REPORTER (V.O.)

Mr. Marland later became governor
of the state, causing controversy
as the former oil mogul
aggressively took on what he called
the abuses of big business.

A CLOSE-UP black and white photo of Lydie at age 27,

laughing.

THE NEWS REPORT

CUTS TO:

The older Lydie in the Golf Club room we saw earlier.

NEWS 7 REPORTER (O.S.)

Mrs. Marland, why is the so-called
Palace on the Prairie worth saving?

LYDIE
Because--

We move closer to her as she thinks for a long moment. Then

she starts to speak, slowly, as if trying to figure something
out for herself, not for the camera

LYDIE
Because my husband built that house
in a particular place at a
particular time...
 123.

INT. DINER - AFTERNOON

LYDIE (ON T.V.)

... when Oklahoma was still an
idea. It was a place off the map
where anything was possible.

We are watching the report on a television above the small

boxes of breakfast cereals on the counter.

PATRONS -- truck drivers, retirees -- sit at the counter and

watch. A WAITRESS has stopped with plates in hand, looking
up.

INT. SHOPPING MALL -- CONTINUOUS

A few SHOPPERS with Sears and K-Mart bags watch a television

at a department store.

LYDIE (ON T.V.)

That idea is what built this city --
the idea that something better
could happen here. Thats what he
left us. Thats our inheritance.

INT. MECHANIC GARAGE - CONTINUOUS

A MECHANIC and his Assistants are watching on a black and

white tv sitting on a folding chair in their garage.

LYDIE (ON T.V.)

When I went back to that house, I
breathed again the air when we
could dream.

INT. LIVING ROOM - CONTINUOUS

A WHITE-HAIRED MAN, 50s, surrounded by a couple of grandkids

playing with action figures, watches the report.

LYDIE (ON T.V.)

And I think thats a thing-- thats
a thing worth saving.

NEWS 7 REPORTER (ON T.V.)

From Ponca City, Im Connie Yu,
Channel 7, Eyewitness News.

The White-Haired Man sits on the couch and thinks.

 124.

INT. PONCA CITY HIGH SCHOOL HALLWAY - EVENING

A Ponca City Wildcats basketball team photo.

A poster advertising: SPRING MUSICAL: OKLAHOMA! With a

cartoon picture of a cowboy and a pioneer woman.

People are assembling in the auditorium.

MILLS (O.S.)
Look, nostalgia for the Marland
house is lovely.

INT. PONCA CITY HIGH SCHOOL, AUDITORIUM - EVENING

On the stage: Five members of the Ponca City Council,

including the Council CHAIRMAN. Horn-rim glasses, thick 70s
ties. And SCOTT MILLS, real estate developer, also sitting
at a long table on the stage. Each with a microphone.

MILLS
But the fact is, its
sentimentality the city cant
afford. In the middle of a
recession, we are offering to take
the elephant off your hands,
provide tax revenues, and create
over 100 construction jobs. Sir?

In the back of the auditorium, a WOMAN IN A HAT quietly

enters, sits. It is LYDIE.

CITY COUNCIL CHAIRMAN

Thank you, Mr. Mills.
(another member whispers
something to him)
Under the circumstances, as no one
has presented a viable alternative
plan, I think we can put the matter
to vote.

The White-Haired Man we saw in his living room raises his

hand. Stands.

WHITE-HAIRED MAN
I beg your pardon, sir. There is an
alternative plan.

Heads turn. A rumble in the crowd.

 125.

WHITE-HAIRED MAN
Some of us got together and worked
out that if we vote for a one and a
half percent sales tax until the
Palace is paid for, then we could
raise the 1.4 million in about two
years.

White-Haired Man is holding a document.

WHITE-HAIRED MAN
Theres a petition here. A thousand
names.

City Council look at each other. A surprise. The Chairman

gestures for the document to be passed up to him.

As its passed up to the Council Chairman:

MILLS
(speaking into his
microphone)
If I may, Mr. Chairman. I think we
can agree that the people of this
city do not want to pay any more
sales tax than they already do.
Some preservationists may have
circulated a petition, but Im
confident that the working people
of Ponca City arent willing to
volunteer their money for such a
purpose.

A hand raises. Its a woman in a denim jacket whom we may

recognize as the Waitress we saw earlier.

WAITRESS
I will.

She stands up. The room is silent, and stares at her.

The Man next to her, in a leather jacket, also stands.

Now, an Old Man stands. Then a couple of High School

Teachers.

A Girl with Piercings and her Boyfriend.

A Mom and her Neighbors. Clay and his wife.

Three more people stand. Then ten more. Then a dozen, twenty.

Its a popular uprising. Row by row, the town is standing up

and staring ahead at the stage and the Council members.
 126.

The council members whisper to each other or look on with

their mouths open.

Now, the entire high school auditorium is on its feet.

Except one. Then, the last person to stand -- albeit frailly -

- is Lydie.

The Developer, petulant and defeated, sighs and shakes his

head. The City Council Chairman and members look at each
other.

The room has spoken.

CUT TO:

A few minutes later. The meeting is breaking up.

The City Council Chairman leans over to another Council

Member.

CITY COUNCIL CHAIRMAN

(under his breath)
Well Don, hell just froze over and
the devils eatin a Sno-Cone. We
just passed a voluntary sales-tax.

COUNCIL MEMBER
I need a beer fast.

CUT TO:

Lydie sits in her chair, silently. Now, the White-Haired Man,

the man with the petition, approaches her.

LYDIE
I dont know what to say to thank
you.

She offers her hand to shake.

LYDIE
I dont believe weve met.

WHITE-HAIRED MAN
I beg your pardon, maam. I think
we have.

He takes something from behind his back. At first, Lydie

cant make out what it is, but he holds it out toward her:
its her FEATURELESS DOLL.

WHITE-HAIRED MAN
Ive been meaning to return this.
 127.

Now she looks up at the White-Haired Man. Its the REDHEADED

BOY from almost fifty years ago. Hes now in his fifties and
is surrounded by his THREE GRANDCHILDREN, two of whom have
red hair.

Lydie takes the Featureless Doll in her hand and holds it

tight, like she did on the train when she was five.

Now, people from all over the room start to approach the
place where shes sitting, surrounding Lydie.

An overhead view of the small, frail woman, surrounded by the

people of her town.

FADE TO BLACK.

EXT. THE PALACE - DAY

ANGLE on: A bright view of a stone breezeway, illuminated by

sun.

Then, three majestic Roman arches under a blue sky.

Super: 1984 A wider shot. The Palace is now restored to its

former glory.

INT. THE PALACE, GREAT ROOM - DAY

A Tour Guide (college student, summer job) presides over a

crowd of visitors. Typical mix of tourists: a dad with a tour
guidebook; a bored girl in a Duran Duran shirt; some
weekenders with cameras.

TOUR GUIDE
The ceiling above us was painted by
a world-renowned Italian muralist
and reflects the history of
Oklahoma from pre-Columbian times
to the 1920s.

INT. THE PALACE, STAIRWELL - DAY

TOUR GUIDE
Now if you look down to your
left...

Now were in a different room. Heads turn, and the camera

moves. Its the STATUE OF LYDIE. Its intact again. Gleaming
white.
 128.

TOUR GUIDE (O.S.)

The statue of Lydie Marland was
restored last year after it was
found shattered in pieces on the
grounds of the estate. It
originally stood in the formal
gardens, which are today the
parking lot through which you
entered. Legend has it that Mrs.
Marland destroyed the statue
herself, though the more likely
story is that it was damaged in
transit over the years.
(moving toward the door)
Now if youll follow me outside,
well have a look at the terrace.

EXT. THE PALACE - DAY

The Tour Guide leads the group toward the terrace, through
the gardens.

As the Tour Guide talks about the gardens, a Girl on the

tour, 6, wanders off between some bushes, to a bench at the
edge of a parking lot, where an OLD WOMAN (80s) is sitting.

The old woman, of course, is Lydie.

The Girl is not precious or cute. Shes reserved and serious.

GIRL
Hi.

LYDIE
Hi.

The Girl is eating a Twizzler from a bag. They sit like two
men, looking straight ahead, up at the house. After a moment,
the Girl volunteers

GIRL
(matter-of-fact)
A princess used to live here.

LYDIE
Is that right?

The Girl nods. Holds out a Twizzler to Lydie.

LYDIE
(taking it)
Thank you.
 129.

Then something catches Lydies eye. She stares at the bushes,

crouches down to the Girls level.

LYDIE
Look.

She points. A few feet from them, having emerged from the
bushes, is a RED FOX WITH A SILVER TAIL. The red fox stares
at Lydie and the Girl, they at it.

After a moment, the Red Fox is joined by two fox CUBS, who
hide underneath their mother.

VOICE (O.S.)
Jennifer? Jennifer!

The Cubs run off and, after another moment, the Red Fox
follows them. The Girl smiles at Lydie, Lydie at her.

GIRL
Bye.

LYDIE
Bye.

The Girl runs off. Lydie stays sitting for a moment. Then she
stands up and walks away, slowly, toward a small house on the
property.

We pull out to a wide shot of the parking lot and garden, so

that Lydie is a small figure, receding from our view.

Text appears on the grass:

Ernest Marland is credited with being decades ahead of his

time in his ideas about corporate responsibility and in the
benefits and opportunities offered to his employees.

The picture starts to fade.

Lydie Marland lived in a small house on the grounds of The

Palace until she died in 1987.

She was buried next to her husband.

The Palace on the Prairie is today the permanent property of

the people of Ponca City, Oklahoma.

The picture fades, not to black but to white.

THE END.