Genre: Drama/Romance/Historical
Director: Sam Mendes
Writers: Jimmy Ellis & John Malone
Cast: Chris Pine, Elle Fanning, Dan Stevens, Ben Mendelsohn, Emily Watson, Michael K. Williams, Niles Fitch, Tim Blake Nelson, Joely Richardson, Timothy Spall
Plot: San Francisco, 1896 – The stock market has just crashed dramatically, completely shutting down the city and leaving many without employment. One of these newly unemployed is Alexander McCann (Chris Pine). He walks the streets looking down on his luck, his clothes look a little old and he is sporting a beard as he desperately seeks a new job, but nobody appears to be hiring. McCann walks past the post office and sees a pamphlet about the recent gold discoveries in the Klondike region. He reaches into his pocket and grabs his remaining money, just enough for a ship to Skagway. He decides to put all that money towards the trip up north to try and get his hands on some of that gold.
McCann walks onto the ship with nothing but the clothes on his back and a pocket watch his father gave him. He takes a seat next to a man who introduces himself as Ezekiel Jameson (Michael K. Williams). He also introduces his son Moses (Niles Fitch) to McCann. Ezekiel asks if he's going up north to find gold as well. McCann says yes, he is recently unemployed and wishes to test the waters and go for gold. Ezekiel says good on him and offers to buy him a drink. McCann nods and says that he’d like that. After several drinks Ezekiel comes up with an idea to pool their money together and merge as business partners so that they can purchase more stakes of land and therefore increase their chances of finding gold. McCann apologizes to him as he has no money. He then feels his watch and offers it to Ezekiel, Ezekiel declines the watch and tells McCann that he likes him and still wants to be his partner. The two make a deal that Ezekiel will put all the money in for the land and if they find gold, Ezekiel takes his money’s worth then they split whatever they find after he's made his initial stake money back. McCann likes the idea of this and shakes Ezekiel’s hand. They have a deal.
Selkirk, Yukon – Reverend Lucas Ellsworth (Ben Mendelsohn) gives a sermon to his flock about avoiding the temptations that newfound wealth may bring, temptations like excessive pride, gambling, lust and fornication. Ellsworth’s wife, Patricia (Emily Watson) proudly watches from the pews, her hands are persistently clasped in a prayer. Ellsworth warns everyone that gold and the wealth that may come with it may leave their lives, but God will always be there for them, watching and judging.
When McCann, Ezekiel and Moses arrive in Skagway they quickly stock up on the needed supplies. They start to make their journey over the mountains toward the Klondike region. As they are climbing the mountainous terrain, Ezekiel trips over some loose rocks and falls, his leg is trapped beneath a rock. McCann and Moses do their best and pick the rock up off his leg. Ezekiel screams, his leg is broken, and cuts cover it. McCann does his best to tend to it, but Ezekiel says they must keep moving. Moses and McCann help him along, but their pace is slowed tremendously by Ezekiel’s injury.
McCann, Moses and Ezekiel keep moving until the night is too dark for them to see the trail clearly. They set up camp and Moses looks at his father’s leg. The leg has quickly become infected. Ezekiel sends Moses away to get him a drink of water from a nearby stream. Ezekiel pulls McCann close and asks him to look after Moses if anything were to happen to him. McCann brushes the question aside but ends up agreeing when Ezekiel presses again and makes him swear. Moses comes back with the water and gives his father a drink. Ezekiel pulls his son in close and hugs him. He lets go and shows a smile, saying they are going to be rich soon.
The next morning, when McCann and Moses wake, Ezekiel is gone. Moses wants to go searching for his father, but McCann points out that he did not take any of his supplies with him. McCann tells Moses that he must have realized that the infection was getting worse and went off somewhere to die alone. Moses is crushed by this and looks for a shoulder to cry on, McCann is there to supply this. Moses tells him that his father would have wanted them to continue, to find that gold. McCann, in respect for Ezekiel, removes his hat and gets on one knee. Moses follows him in doing this. While on the knee, McCann talking to heaven says that he will do right by Moses and acknowledges that their deal still stands, Moses will get the gold until McCann’s payment is met.
The beautiful Katy Campbell (Elle Fanning) is a tap dancer at the local theater in Selkirk and is doing so elegantly, in front of a sparse crowd. Meanwhile, Alma Adams (Joely Richardson), the owner of the theater watches as miners and other townsfolk alike throw their money at establishments other than her own. When Katy finishes her dance, she takes a bow and leaves the stage.
McCann and the down Moses finally arrive in Selkirk and meet with the mayor of the town, Leland Pelly (Tim Blake Nelson). The mayor is excited to have new gold business in his little town. With the money left to them by Ezekiel the two of them purchase a few stakes of land. They strike a deal with Pelly and hike out to their land to begin their work.
John Fitzgerald (Dan Stevens) arrives in Selkirk as he steps off the stagecoach. He immediately goes to the post and sends a wire to his superior at the Pacific Northwest Railway Company back in Seattle. He tells them that he has arrived in Selkirk and will set up his office soon and begin the hiring process of the workers to build the railway between Selkirk and Skagway.
McCann and Moses begin to become frustrated with their lack of success finding gold at their stakes. Moses begins packing up the equipment, but McCann digs a little more. He sees something, a small gold nugget. He excitedly calls over Moses. Despite the sun setting, McCann and Moses set up an oil lantern and begin digging away at that one spot. They dig all through the night, finding several gold nuggets by dawn.
Katy arrives at the theater for another day of work and sees that Alma had much of the seating replaced with card tables. Alma spots her and tells her to get in the dressing room. In the dressing room, Alma addresses Katy and the rest of the girls, she tells them that there will no longer be any tap dancing. Their job now is to dance in an exotic fashion for the miners and the gamblers. She pulls out more scandalous showgirl outfits for the girls. Katy has a look of disbelief on her face.
Fitzgerald is in his temporary office at the local hotel, which is run by Mayor Pelly. After finishing setting up the office, he asks Pelly what there is to do around town for amusement. Pelly mentions that the dancers over at Alma’s supposedly have a new routine. Fitzgerald seems intrigued.
Katy gets one of the other girls to strap her into the corset of her new costume. Katy albeit uncomfortably, takes the stage and dances. It is visible that her heart is not in it, however the men in the establishment are too busy drinking and gambling to pay her much mind.
After their long night of mining, McCann and Moses arrive at Alma’s. McCann immediately notices Katy on stage. He does not take his eyes off her and tells Moses to grab a bottle from the bar. McCann then sits front and center to watch Katy dance. She smiles at him and he smiles back. Fitzgerald also arrives at Alma’s. He walks in and sits down at the bar. He orders himself a drink. As he sips at his drink, he notices Katy, he asks the bartender who the enchanting young woman is. The bartender tells him her name is Katy and that she is fairly new to the town. He continues drinking and watching Katy dance. After the show, McCann and Moses take their gold to Mayor Pelly in order to purchase more stakes of land. They do so and Pelly wishes them luck, as he knows the more miners that arrive in Selkirk, the less gold there will be to go around.
As they leave the mayor’s office, they spot Katy walking out of the theater. A miner immediately walks toward her. He begins propositioning her for sex. She immediately turns him down, but he is not taking no for an answer. He grabs her by the hair and drags her into an alleyway. He begins pulling his belt off with one hand, while the other holds Katy down. McCann seeing the struggle going on runs over to the two of them. As he reaches them, the man turns around and raises his fists for a fight. He swings but McCann dodges, and after a short scuffle McCann ends up knocking the man to the ground and sending him running. He offers his hand to Katy as she thanks him. He offers to walk her home. Katy looks at him and decides he looks trustworthy enough to accept his proposal. As they are walking to Katy’s boarding house, she tells him that she wants to be a vaudeville performer, she adds that she feels trapped by the more risqué atmosphere that Alma is developing at the theater. After hearing her story, he begins to tell his, about how he lost everything after the stock market crashed. He tells her that he came to the Yukon to turn his luck around and find some gold. They arrive at the boarding house. She thanks McCann for his help and bids him adieu.
The next morning Katy arrives at the theater to find a bouquet of flowers waiting for her. Before reading the letter, she comments to the other dancers that she believes it may be the handsome miner that she met the night before. As she reads the letter she begins to smile as the letter asks her to dinner that night at the hotel. At the end of the letter however it says that it is from a John Fitzgerald. She loves the flowers and smiles.
Moses and McCann go out to start mining their new stakes with even bigger and better equipment. As they dig, they do not find anything. As day turns into night, and the hole becomes bigger, they are becoming even more furious and disappointed that this land is not as fruitful as their previous stake of land.
Katy arrives at the hotel to find the lobby has been made into a sophisticated eating area for two. Fitzgerald is already waiting at the table. When he notices her, Fitzgerald quickly stands and invites Katy to sit down. She vaguely recognizes him from the theater. He gets up and grabs her hand, kissing it. A waiter pulls out her seat and the two begin to talk. Fitzgerald very much takes over the conversation. He tells her all about the railroad work that he is overseeing between Selkirk and Skagway. She seems fairly interested and smiles at Fitzgerald as they eat and drink.
After their dinner date, Fitzgerald walks Katy home. As they arrive at her house, he says he would like to do this all again and asks her on another date. Before she answers she notices something behind Fitzgerald, McCann is walking down the street with some mining gear and Moses in tow. Fitzgerald notices this and says that if she wants to live a hard scrabble life she can go off with that man, but if she wants to have a well-off, comfortable future she could do worse than a man like himself.
Fitzgerald oversees the beginning of construction on the railway site. Most of the men who have been hired for the job are a rough sort. Along with this more than half of them appear drunk. As he walks past the men working, Fitzgerald notices a fight break out. He tells his foreman to go and break up the fight, but he has no luck. Fitzgerald runs over to break up the fight himself. However, in his attempt he is punched in the face and knocked to the ground.
Reverend Ellsworth holds a church service, which has less of an audience than before. He urges his flock to not get bullied or pushed around by the undesirable railroad men who are flooding their town, sullying the nature around them for the sake of supposed progress. He asks his parishioners if they think the modernization of Selkirk will be worth the crime and filth that is accompanying the process. His wife Patricia vehemently shakes her head no.
While out on the land, Moses and McCann find a medium sized vein of gold. Together they begin digging it up with excitement. After they have managed to dig out the gold, McCann says he is going to run into town as they don’t have all the equipment to properly transport all the gold into town. While in town, McCann encounters Mayor Pelly who inquires why he is buying a new handcart. McCann tells him about the vein of gold they have found. Pelly wishes him luck. When McCann returns, he notices that Moses and the vein of gold have gone missing. He notices a trail from the wagon leading away from the site. He finds a note from Moses apologizing for taking all the gold. McCann debates with himself whether to follow Moses or not, ultimately, he decides it is getting to be dark soon, so heads back into town.
When he arrives back in town, McCann is immediately met by Mayor Pelly who was expecting him to have the gold that he mentioned. McCann, looking defeated says he was mistaken, and the vein was fruitless. Pelly says that’s too bad and continues on his way, holding court over the foot traffic on the main street.
McCann, disappointed at missing out on such a large amount of gold, heads over to the theater to have a drink. Fitzgerald also shortly arrives, with a black and swollen eye. Katy sees them both in the audience and smiles at each of them. McCann and Fitzgerald both see her smile and eye the other man down. Katy continues her dance routine, enjoying the attention she is getting from both McCann and Fitzgerald. At the end of her dance, Fitzgerald stands up and claps for her, sticking out like a sore thumb in an establishment full of rugged types. McCann on the other hand gives Katy a whistle and slugs down the rest of his whiskey. Fitzgerald realizes that he must get up early in the morning to oversee things at the railroad and leaves the theater. Katy sits down with McCann, who buys her a drink and tells her about how Moses left with all the gold they had found. She thinks it's awful news, but McCann seems oddly content with the outcome, saying that Moses' father put up the money for everything anyways, so it only stands to reason that Moses would want to collect some sort of inheritance out of the circumstances.
McCann walks Katy back to where she is staying, at the boarding house. As McCann is ready to wish her a good night, he is surprised by Katy inviting him inside her room. McCann sits down at the edge of Katy’s bed. Katy takes her clothes off in front of McCann and begins kissing him. McCann hurriedly pulls his dirty pants off as he kisses Katy’s neck. Once McCann’s pants are off, Katy climbs into his lap and the two passionately have sex.
On Sunday Morning, Rev. Ellsworth and his wife Patricia stand in front of the church and greet their guests, however there are not many there to come and worship their savior. Patricia sees that her husband is filling with rage by the second and tells him that he needs to relax and focus on saving the souls of those who have decided to come to church, rather than dwell on those who have chosen the incorrect path.
Fitzgerald receives a telegram from his superior, Silas Manning. In the telegram Silas tells Fitzgerald he will be making a visit to Selkirk in advance of the railroad’s opening and hopes that all is going well. After reading this, Fitzgerald rushes out of his office, only to find just a few men working. He implores the working men to work a double shift while he tries to round up the rest of the workers. Fitzgerald enters Ellsworth’s church and finds a few of the Irish workers inside. He interrupts the church service to ask for his men to come to work immediately, he says that they need to make much more progress before the arrival of Manning. The railway workers follow Fitzgerald out of the church, leaving Ellsworth’s pews even emptier. Ellsworth is left standing at his pulpit, seething.
Katy is walking down the street and witnesses Fitzgerald barking orders at his workers out of the corner of her eye. Fitzgerald feels her eyes on him, and he approaches her. He asks Katy if he may have the privilege of preparing her dinner that evening. Katy nods and says she would like that, he then offers to walk her to work.
McCann is in town stocking up on some supplies when he sees Katy and Fitzgerald walking and talking on the street. McCann’s face turns to one of anger, he leaves the store and goes up to his land. He grabs a pick-axe and pounds away at the ground. He then becomes further enraged the he hasn’t seen any gold since Moses left. He attacks the rock and Earth with the pick-axe until his hands are bloody.
Katy sits at the table in Fitzgerald’s quarters, as Fitzgerald serves her a bowl of stew. He tells her that he tried to recreate his mother’s recipe for English stew. As Katy takes a bite, it is clear that Katy is not fond of the taste. Fitzgerald also takes a bite and tells her that he thinks the food is terrible also. He then offers her some post food brandy, which she declines, saying she does not want to lose her wits and do something she may regret.
Rev. Ellsworth, armed with a rifle, is hiking just outside of town looking for a good hunting spot. However, he is dismayed when he sees all the once ample hunting grounds around Selkirk have been spoiled by the gold mining and logging for the railroad. As he turns to head back to town he comes across a case of dynamite. He looks around for a moment, then loads his bags full of the explosive.
Silas Manning (Timothy Spall) arrives in Selkirk and is greeted by Fitzgerald, who takes him along the railroad hoping for his approval. Silas turns to him and announces that he is impressed by the progress and suggests that Fitzgerald host a party for the town to celebrate just how close they are to have a successful railroad. He tasks Fitzgerald with bringing the plan to the attention of the town's mayor.
On his way to see the mayor, Fitzgerald finds Katy on her way to the theater for work. He tells her about the party and asks her to accompany him as his date. Katy says that it doesn’t sound like her type of party, but Fitzgerald ends up talking her into going with him. She tells him she really must be going as she is almost late to the theater. He kisses her hand.
McCann arrives in town and goes to the theater. He asks to see Katy, but Alma tells him she has just arrived and is in the dressing room. McCann barges into the dressing room, although Alma tries to stop him. He reaches Katy and tells her that he knows that she is seeing another man. He gives her an ultimatum to choose between her two suitors. He tells her that he may not have a glamorous job with the railroad, but every cent he has to his name has come from his own blood and sweat, and there's something to be said for that. McCann then leaves the theater.
Fitzgerald meets with Mayor Pelly at the hotel and gives him Manning’s proposal of a grand party to open the railroad. Mayor Pelly is thrilled about the idea of throwing a party. As Fitzgerald is leaving the hotel, McCann arrives and purchases even more land from Pelly’s office. McCann quickly set about working the land, and again becomes frustrated while panning the creek, as he comes up empty again and again, not even finding a flake.
Late at night, Reverend Ellsworth sneaks out of his own house, careful as to not wake his wife. He sneaks through the town streets until he reaches the railroad site. As he reaches it, he sets up the dynamite he found earlier, underneath a stage that they have set up for the celebration. He smiles at the dynamite. Then signs the cross and walks away.
On the day of the party, McCann is still digging up his land, he grows more desperate by the day with no gold to think of. He screams out after finding no gold. Katy approaches him and surprises him. She informs him that she has decided to be with him, not John Fitzgerald. McCann forgets all his worries for a moment and gives Katy a kiss. Katy tells McCann that she is going to head back to town to let Fitzgerald down, so that everything can be settled. She adds that Fitzgerald is a good man and deserves to be let down in person. McCann agrees and says that he may see her in town for the party. Katy is surprised he would want to go to the party but cannot wait to see him there.
Silas Manning stands before the town and announces the completion of the railroad between Selkirk and Skagway. He thanks Fitzgerald for his diligent work. Fitzgerald waves to the crowd and notices Katy. He meets her off the side of the stage. McCann starts to arrive in town to see Katy break the news to Fitzgerald. She tells Fitzgerald that she has decided that she would rather be with McCann than him. Fitzgerald is clearly disappointed but offers his hand. The two of them shake hands, and as they pull apart, the stage blows up in a violent explosion. McCann rushes toward the site of the explosion. He begins to look around at all the dead bodies. Among the dead and injured, he finds Katy right next to Fitzgerald’s dead body. Katy is alive, barely. Both of her legs have been blown off by the explosion. He holds her in his arms as she slowly dies from her injuries.
The next day, Rev. Ellsworth holds a church service and the entire building is full. He tells the crowd that sometimes it takes someone putting the fear of God back in one's life in order for them to realize the importance of worshiping the Lord. Patricia watches on, happy to see that her husband's anger has subsided for the time being.
McCann is on his land. He looks like the life has been drained out of him as he labors away at the side of a mountain. McCann rears back and gives one last big swing of his pick-axe at the mountain side, before walking away and calling it a day. Some rock crumbles away from the mountain side revealing a vein of gold, but McCann does not see it as he has already begin walking away from the site.
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