- Based on a book by Maggie Siggins this is a tale of greed, lust and tragedy set in Saskatchewan, Canada. Ambitious John Hawk cons the Indians of their land allocations and forecloses on other locals for their land. The railroad is coming and he is set to make millions. Romance blossoms between his son and their housemaid, daughter of one of the locals who has lost his land to Hawk.—Marita
- The film begins in 1893 in Promise North-West Territories as hotel owner John Hawke a brutal and greedy entrepreneur seeks to bring a proposed north-south railway line to the town. The new railway hub of Promise would boom and make Hawke a very rich man. He acquires by foreclosure some of land from the poor Carmichael family which contains good clay, his plan being to offer a corrupt railway official, Burlington, interest in a brickworks in exchange for influence with the Pacific Railway. In order to finance the project he mortgages all his assets and uses the cash to unscrupulously purchase Mtis script, then selling the land for a huge profit. His dreams are answered when the railway decides in his favour. These events occur are intertwined with the passionate romances and elicit affairs of the main characters. Hawkes son Finlay (Finn) having just returned from school in Montreal falls in love with Ceilidh Carmichael, daughter of one of Hawkes victims, while his wife, Caroline, is involved with a Jewish shopkeeper Leon. Hawke himself becomes the father of a little boy Johnny by his housemaid Kathleen. Finn is repulsed by his fathers greed and leaves again for the East when his learns falsely that Ceilidh is sleeping with him. As he goes Hawke has Leon murdered in a fire, set by his hired man, which burns down the shop of Leons uncle Jacob. Ceilidh witnesses the arson and blackmails Hawke into giving her his hotel and brothel.
The action switches to 1900, seven years have passed and Finn returns as a journalist determined to bring down his fathers evil empire, which now includes a system of monopolist and corrupt grain elevators. Finn reunites passionately with Celilidh and, helped by his mother Caroline seeking revenge, he founds a newspaper to accomplish his goal. Hawke, having dumped Kathleen and now coercing a poor Metis woman into having sex with him, retaliates by using his men to destroy the press and beat up Finn. The government, finally stirred into action by the Finns investigative journalism holds a commission held in Promise and outlaws the grain dealer/railway monopoly, but still the railway refuses to deal with the farmers even when they build their own railway platform. When they decide to build their own elevator, so their grain will not rot and they can wait out the railway, Hawke buys up all their debt and foreclosures on their land. Things are looking very bleak until Ceilidh decides to sell her ill-gotten hotel to the corrupt railway official and start her own grain company so she can buy all of the farmers grain including that of her father. In the violent finale in front of the rival elevators of Hawke and the farmers, Hawke is defeated, and his son Johnny, and the hired man, are killed.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content