| STORY
SYNOPSIS
Woodrow Call and Gus McCrae are the most intriguing fictional
cowboys ever to ride across the Texas frontier. We first met
Call and McCrae in Larry McMurtry's Pulitzer Prize-winning
novel, "Lonesome Dove." Now ABC's miniseries goes back to
the beginning of their saga. Tenderfeet grow up fast amidst
the life-or-death challenges of the wild plains. Their fiercest
enemy is Buffalo Hump, the Comanche war chief. Buffalo Hump's
grandmother prophesied that a dark woman riding on a white
mule would signal the end of his people. Until the dark woman
appears, he's determined to force all interlopers from his
lands. In addition to the threat of death or torture from
Indians, the young Rangers also face the treachery of their
own leaders, the brutal nature of life on the plains, and
the guns of the Mexican army. Staring down death together,
Gus and Woodrow cement a partnership that will last a lifetime.
Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call are the greenest of the Texas
Rangers on an expedition into Comanche territory in 1840's
Texas. They're part of a ragged crew -- mostly cowboys, a
few fortune hunters, and a couple of seasoned scouts -- all
looking for adventure on the wild plains. The land itself
is harsh and unforgiving, but the Rangers' biggest fear is
Buffalo Hump. They know the Comanche torture their captives,
so the younger Rangers pay careful attention when Bigfoot
Wallace describes the most efficient means of suicide if captured.
Gus and Woodrow manage to survive the first expedition with
their scalps, although some of their compañeros aren't
so lucky. Still itching for adventure, Gus convinces Woodrow
to sign up for another mission. A pirate named Caleb Cobb
aims to claim Santa Fe for the Republic of Texas. The Rangers
will have to fight their way through both Comanche and Apache
territory and then face the Mexican army. Even if they best
their human enemies, they'll still have to survive the Jornada
del Muerto, the barren wasteland known as Dead Man's Walk.
Buying a new musket for the trek, Gus is smitten with the
shopkeeper's brash and beautiful daughter, Clara Forsythe.
Will Gus survive Dead Man's Walk and make it back to Austin?
Will Clara be waiting? Stay tuned.
So happy-go-lucky McCrae and his more serious buddy Call
head back to the plains. They're joined by many of the same
Rangers, including old Shadrach and Bigfoot Wallace, two of
the most experienced plainsmen around. Matty Jane Roberts,
a prostitute desperate to start a new life in California,
becomes the heart of the gang. Battling hunger, thirst, cold
and the fear that behind every rock lurks an Indian warrior,
the troop pushes towards Santa Fe. Part One ends with a real
cliffhanger: Surrounded by prairie fires set by the Comanche,
the Rangers are forced over the edge of a steep cliff. They're
left hanging by their toenails as the fire destroys their
food, gunpowder and horses.
When last seen in Part One, the Texas Rangers were hanging
over the edge of a deep ravine while fire swept the plains
above them. Part Two opens as they claw their way back to
the top, only to find a scorched hellscape nearly devoid of
life. Their powder is gone, their food is gone, and most of
their horses are gone. Their only hope for survival is to
send a small party ahead looking for game and water. Gus,
Woodrow and Bigfoot eventually find water at a small Mexican
settlement, where they're arrested by Captain Salazar of the
Mexican army.
Miraculously, the Rangers are able to escape when a hungry
grizzly attacks the camp. They find the rest of the Rangers
just in time for Caleb Cobb to cut a deal and surrender the
entire troop to Salazar's general. Enraged at Cobb's duplicity,
Woodrow Call tackles him. For attacking a superior officer,
Salazar orders Call tied to a wagon wheel and flogged nearly
to death.
Meanwhile Cobb rides off with the general, while Salazar
marches his troops and the captive Rangers across the plains.
They soon find the general dead and Cobb blinded by the Indians.
Salazar must now lead his men across the dreaded Jornada
del Muerto, the wasteland called Dead Man's Walk. When they
finally reach San Lazaro, there's one final brutality waiting.
The remaining captives must gamble for their lives. Some draw
white beans and live; some draw black beans and face the firing
squad.
The remaining Rangers meet a mysterious fellow prisoner.
Lady Carey is an Englishwoman who has already been ransomed
by her family, but she has no way to get home across the fearsome
plains. She asks the Rangers to help. They make a curious
group: Four tattered and exhausted Rangers accompanying a
veiled noblewoman and her beautiful black servant, Emerald,
astride a white mule. How they get across the plains, escape
from Buffalo Hump and make their way back to Austin (and Clara)
is the exciting finale of Dead Man's Walk.
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