The Son

After hiding out in Mexico for the past two years, María has returned to look for her birth certificate, though she has already learned about the fire that destroyed her home. Peter resolves to shelter her and help her procure the documents she needs to prove her American citizenship.

When Peter brings up the subject of the massacre, María intuits that he wants to be forgiven for his participation. That night, Peter is haunted by nightmares of mob violence, as well as memories of his friendship with Pedro. He gets up and goes to María’s room just as she is about to flee. Peter urges her to stay.

Eli continues his bothersome drilling operations. Peter encourages María to open up about the massacre. María criticizes the injustice of taking all her family’s lives in exchange for Glenn’s injury and shares her fantasies of killing the white men in town. Peter tries to assure her that none of these outcomes were intended. María argues that his family’s lies have become the truth by force of repetition.

The surviving Comanche people struggle through the winter. The new Kotsoteka chief suggests that the value of Eli’s ransom will help with trade. Eli can then come back to the band after the traders return him to the Americans.

Eli agrees and leaves along with Yellow Hair. Yellow Hair asks Eli to pretend she is his wife while traveling to discourage the traders from molesting her. Recalling her rapes in captivity, she shares that she had induced abortions when she was pregnant. She often fantasizes about taking revenge on her rapists. Once they get closer to Austin, her mood improves and they have sex.

Eli and Yellow Hair are brought to the Texas state capitol. Eli learns that Yellow Hair’s birth name is Ingrid Goetz. She is adopted by wealthy women and brought to stay at a plantation. Eli refuses to be cleaned up and stays at the city jail. The two are celebrated at a reception. Eli is soon asked to demonstrate his Kotsoteka hunting skills for Texas high society. A news reporter from New York tries to get Eli to admit that Ingrid had been raped by Comanche men. Eli instead claims that she was honored, and then challenges the reporter for his patronizing tone, pointing out that the Indigenous nations in the Northeast were summarily wiped out because they were seen as “savage.” Ingrid eventually travels east with the reporter.

The host of the reception, Judge Black, informs Eli that his father Armstrong is dead—killed while serving with the Texas Rangers. Eli’s stepmother, who lives in Bastrop, offers to take Eli in. The judge encourages Eli to attend school. Eli is stubborn, but Judge Black insists out of respect for his wife. Eli gets bored of living in Judge Black’s house and engages in various misdemeanors. The judge gives Eli the choice to either attend school or move in with his stepmother. Eli gifts the judge a knife to thank him for his hospitality and leaves for Bastrop.

Hank and Jeannie survey the property. While having lunch, she plucks the buds of a cottonwood plant and lets Hank taste the sap from her fingers. Hank admits his attraction to her but worries that Phineas will kill him if he tries to pursue a relationship with Jeannie. Jeannie does not care and kisses him. Hank argues that he is not right for Jeannie and that he is a better oil driller than he is a lover. Later that night, he goes to bed early, which frustrates Jeannie.

Hank accuses Jeannie of trying to keep him around longer than expected. That afternoon, they have sex outdoors. Hank apologizes for disappointing her, but Jeannie tells him that she enjoyed it and gets him to help her reach orgasm. Later they decide that Phineas might approve of them after all, considering that he sent Hank to bring her home the night they met. They have sex again in the house but sleep in their respective rooms to maintain discretion. The next day, Jeannie sends the house staff away.

It takes six months to build their first oil drill on the Garcia lot. Hank and Jeannie observe the drill, but when the rig releases gas, Hank urges Jeannie to get away. Jeannie remains. Hank later scolds Jeannie for disobeying. Jeannie explains that she wants to know how the rig works.

Peter lends María a truck to drive to the nearby town of Carrizo. When she returns, she is surprised to learn that Peter sleeps in his office. María opens up about how guilty and angry it makes her to tell him about her experience of the massacre. She asks after the Mexican families who used to live around the area. Peter reveals that his family holds the title to the Garcia land.

Eli orders Peter to throw María out, though Peter knows María has nowhere else to go. Eli stresses that María’s presence will cause trouble with various authorities. Peter refuses to let María go, staking his life on her safety.

Peter calls Sally, who indicates she will not return to the ranch. She asks if they are separated, alluding to some time she had spent in the mountains with a “friend.” Peter remains ambiguous about the state of their marriage.

María hints that she is aware of Eli’s negative feelings about her. She reminisces about her father, describing him as someone who didn’t belong because he was romantic about ranch life and trusting of his neighbors. Peter tells her how Eli and Phineas mercilessly killed a young cattle thief after the thief gave them information about his employers. Holding Peter’s hand, María consoles him over his fear that mercilessness is in his nature as well.

Eli meets his stepmother and is made to attend school. He is immensely bored and eventually chased out by the teacher. Eli is furious when he learns that his stepmother has destroyed his Comanche belongings.

Eli runs away to live in the woods, using his survival skills to hunt and gather. He replaces the bow and the clothes that were destroyed, and then returns to Bastrop to shoot his stepbrothers’ hogs and take their dog for company.

Eli starts stalking the wife of the Bastrop Judge Wilbarger, whenever she goes out into the woods. Sometime later, Eli is taken to jail, where the judge’s wife cooks meals for Eli. When Judge Wilbarger scolds Eli for destroying private property, Eli tries to scandalize him by talking about his sexual history, but later feels guilty for talking about his former sexual partners that way. Saddened, he returns to the woods once he is released.

To improve his mood, Eli goes to steal the judge’s wine and cigars from his house. The judge’s wife finds him but is not alarmed by his presence. After telling him how she came to marry the judge, she asks him questions about his life among the Comanche people. She agrees to have a drink with Eli but tells him to take a bath first. He asks her to give him one.

In 1948, Texas Congressman Lyndon B. Johnson arrives in McCullough Springs for his senatorial campaign. Jeannie offers the campaign significant financial support. Johnson acknowledges her as Phineas’s niece.

Hank and Jeannie develop a stable oil drilling business. They buy a house but fail to fall into a steady pattern of life. During this time, a novelist hoping to write about Texas comes to interview Jeannie about her life. Hank withdraws to avoid the writer’s scrutiny. Jeannie faces the writer alone and feels uneasy about the writer’s observations on her life. The resulting novel exaggerates the lives of Texas oilmen, becoming popular when it is adapted to film.

After a controversial election, Johnson becomes a senator. The outcome favors the Texan oil industry.

In the present, Jeannie reflects on the way the oilmen she knew have come and gone. She recalls visiting Jonas in Washington sometime in the early 1950s to meet with a man interested in the oil industry. Discussing Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, the man subtly offers access to oil reserves in the Middle East. Jeannie accepts his offer in exchange for funding, knowing that the future of the oil business is overseas.

Peter keeps expecting María to come to his room. When hours pass by without seeing her, he goes to seek her himself. She excuses herself to let him return to work. He is nervous about engaging her romantically.

Eli leaves for Wichita Falls, expecting that María will be gone by the time he returns. He warns Peter against trying to pursue her. When María shares her awareness of Eli’s ultimatum, Peter kisses her. She tells him that she wants him to pursue her, and then leaves the room.

Eli begins an affair with Judge Wilbarger’s wife, Ellen. He wonders why she chooses to live in Bastrop instead of her home country of England. Ellen explains that she seems more respectable in Bastrop.

A neighborhood boy named Tom Whipple notices Eli visiting the judge’s house. Eli confronts Tom, but neither of them discusses Eli’s activities at the house. Instead, Tom asks Eli to teach him how to steal horses. Ellen does not seem bothered. She instead reveals that Eli is her first affair and that he is the only person who makes her feel good. She opens up about her loneliness in Bastrop, which could prompt her to move back to England. Eli suggests that Ellen elope with him. Ellen calls him out for his naivety.

After Eli teaches Tom to ride the judge’s horses, Tom tries to steal a horse on his own and nearly ends up getting shot. Tom reveals everything he knows about Eli. Eli is put in jail; the trial is expected to be extremely short.

Jeannie becomes frustrated with the monotony of her life, which has been reduced to looking after her children, Thomas and Susan. Hank hardly spends any time with them at all. One day, Jeannie brings Susan to the office and hands her off to the secretaries. Jeannie wonders if it is wrong to think that her children take more love than they can give back. Exhausted, Jeannie lets the day pass without accomplishing very much.

When Hank returns from a business trip, Jeannie suggests hiring two more nannies to look after the children, especially as they considering having one more child. Hank refuses; he would prefer for them to raise their children themselves. Jeannie urges him to stay home instead of working. Hank is annoyed, especially when Jeannie opens up about the emptiness of her life. Hank abruptly leaves and Jeannie cries. She leverages her wealth to hire two more nannies and return to work. She is seen as a bad mother.

Peter longs for María’s company, though he is content with knowing she is still in his house. His passionate thoughts are interrupted by the sudden collapse of Eli’s oil derrick, which has hit a gas pocket. Eli quickly returns from Wichita Falls to capitalize on the opportunity.

The following day, Peter invites María to run errands with him in Carrizo. They talk about Peter’s intention to divorce Sally. Peter notes that it is dangerous to travel back at night, so they stop at a hotel where Peter declares his love for her. They have sex and sleep in the following morning.

Judge Wilbarger prepares to sentence Eli to death by hanging, but Eli is saved by Judge Black’s intervention and is instead mustered into the Texas Rangers. During his first tour, his company captures Mexicans and people fleeing enslavement.

During Eli’s second year with the Rangers, he rides under the command of Warren Lyons, a former Comanche captive. They spot a small group of Comanche riders during their tour. Eli is nervous about going after them. When Eli suspects that Lyons is attempting to defect back to the Comanche people, Lyons reassures Eli that he is being paranoid. They defeat the Comanche fighters in close combat, though many of the Rangers resign the following day. The only other remaining member dies of his injuries that night, leaving Eli and Lyons behind. Lyons suspects he is cursed. He soon resigns from the Rangers as well.

Eli returns to Austin and tries to repay Judge Black for saving him. Eli is later found by a man who had known his father Armstrong. The man gives Eli a scalp vest that Armstrong had made for Eli. Eli learns that his father had attempted to rescue him but lost the Comanche raiders’ trail. When Eli tries to find out what happened to his father, the man refuses to answer.

Present-day Jeannie is aware of someone in her room. Her memories blur, causing her to momentarily believe that Hank was alive at the time of US President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. She recalls asking Hank if the oil tycoon H.L. Hunt might pose a threat to their business. She then remembers that Kennedy’s death did not shock her and considers the way violence sparks upheavals throughout history.

In María’s company, Peter is no longer haunted by the shadow of the dead Garcias. Peter fears that María could leave him at any time.

Four days later, Peter returns to the ranch and suggests that they should sell leases. Eli tries to broach the subject of María, but Peter deflects. Eli figures that they can sell leases once they find more oil across the ranch.

Peter returns to María, who tells him a story about an old man, the last of the Coahuiltecan people.

María’s great-uncle, Arturo, encountered the old man while digging in the Garcia pasture. Arturo helped the man to look for a piece of black obsidian buried somewhere nearby. Arturo repeatedly asked if he was destined to lose his land. The man deflected his question, explaining that he did not know the answer. When Arturo found the rock, the man finally revealed that Arturo was destined to lose his land to the white settlers. Worried about his fate, Arturo cut off the man’s head. The man’s head cursed him. Arturo sent his family to Mexico, but they were killed during the journey. Several years later, the lonely Arturo had his land taken from him by white settlers. Then, Pedro inherited Arturo’s land, though his wife encouraged him to sell it because of the curse. Driven by his romanticism, Pedro held onto the land. He read Arturo’s journal and returned the old man’s head to his skeleton, thinking it would lift the curse. María comments that it did not.

Eli’s company is deployed north, responding to complaints of Indigenous nations stealing from the white locals. One night, the company investigates a house that has been burnt down by Comanche raiders. The Rangers intuit that the raiders have one female hostage and trail after them.

During a long canyon chase, Eli recognizes Escuté among the raiders. Eli diverts the company, allowing the Comanche party to escape. The Ranger captain loses trust in Eli but is later killed after he catches his wife having an affair with a sutler, or army provisioner. The company hangs the sutler. Eli is elected captain. He scalps the sutler in private. Eli affirms his loyalty to the Rangers, embodying Toshaway’s philosophy that one must love others more than oneself.