Summary
A solitary lantern flickers inside a derelict cabin while George Arden drags his fever-wracked wife Jeanette across splintered floorboards, laying her upon a straw cot the color of dried marrow; he sprints toward town for aid, but a random slug from a bar-room brawl slams into his skull, erasing past and future in one crimson instant. Found half-dead by Joe, a métis trapper whose blood is braided with snowmelt and birch, George is borne to a saloon where memory leaks out like whiskey through floorboards; meanwhile Jeanette expires in childbirth, her final exhale christening an unnamed daughter who is discovered by dance-hall drifters drawn by cabin-light. Fifteen circling winters later that child—now christened Autumn—walks the mud-rutted streets of Camp Eldora in godfather Joe’s shadow, a living poem of gold maple and gunpowder. She floats into the Golden Eagle Saloon wearing a borrowed gown the color of candleflame, catching the eye of Dick, a Mountie hunting the vanished miner whose photograph still clings to a wanted poster. Rigged roulette, a shattered lamp, a body hurled into black water: the night combusts, leaving Autumn clutching a smoking revolver beside the perforated corpse of Diamond Jack while scorned lover Kate frames her for the kill. Under a twisted pine the mob howls for frontier justice; a horse quivers beneath the noose, but Autumn’s refusal to return violence answers the moral riddle—innocence measured by the willingness to forgive. Rifles crack, rope splinters, Kate collapses, and the law rides in with carbines gleaming like icicles. In a cave scented with moss and old regret, the scarred mute called “Nobody” is coaxed back into the skin of George Arden; memories thaw, revealing the blank decade-and-a-half that began when a stray bullet unmanned a husband and orphaned a daughter. At the ruined cabin father and child converge—two strangers sharing the same ghost—until Dick threads the narrative together: the grave outside the window, the wind in the poplars, the cyclical ache of a territory that devours and redeems in equal measure. One year on, dawn ignites the river as Autumn—no longer a season but a sovereign self—promises her hand to the Mountie who once carried her father’s photograph, the wheel of violence finally creaking to rest beneath the weight of mercy.
Synopsis
George Arden and his wife, Jeanette, enter a deserted house in the woods and Jeanette, in a weakened condition is placed by her husband on a straw-covered cot. He then hastens to camp for a doctor. As he is going past a saloon in the town, he is hit in the head by a stray bullet. He falls prostrate to the ground where he is later found by Joe, a Canadian half-breed, who, with the aid of three friends, tries to stop the flow of blood. Joe goes to the cabin where he sees that Jeanette has given birth to a child and is in a dying condition. The crowd from the dance hall is homeward bound when the light from the cabin attracts their attention and some of the women enter. Louise picks up the infant and another woman bends down over the still form of the mother. Next day we see George in the back room of the saloon. His reason is gone and he has lost the power of speech. He finds a cave and draws back into it for refuge. Joe is appointed godfather at the christening of the motherless infant. He says, "She came to us like the autumn wind. Let her name be Autumn." There is a lapse of fifteen years. Autumn has been brought up by her godfather. Outside the Golden Eagle Saloon stands "Nobody." Right below his eye is a scar from a bullet wound. In the gambling room of the Eagle saloon we see Kate, her lingers covered with diamonds. At the other end of the table sits a gambler known as Diamond Jack, with whom she is apparently in love. The scene shifts to the headquarters of the Royal Mounted Police, where Trooper Dick is told that a Chinaman, Hop Lee, has been trying for fifteen years to find George Arden. Dick is given an old-fashioned photograph with an autograph of George Arden and is assigned by his captain to make a search for the missing miner. Dirk arrives at Camp Eldora and makes the acquaintance of "Autumn." Joe induces Diamond Kate to provide a fine dress for Autumn, so that she can go to the ball that evening to attract customers. Dick proceeds to the dance hall and presently Autumn, clad in the new dress Kate has given her, comes in to watch the game. Dick and Autumn recognize each other. Thinking he is unnoticed, Jack spins the wheel quickly and moves his hand to the corner of the table to pull off a crooked deal. As Jack's hand disappears underneath the edge of the table we see Dick grasp it and hold it in a firm grip. With his other hand Jack draws a gun and shatters the lamp chimney, putting the house in almost total darkness. Autumn hides behind the shutter. A group of men move toward her holding on high the apparently lifeless body of Dick, which they throw into the river below. Autumn rouses "Nobody" and draws him toward the rapids, where they throw a rope to Dick, who has revived. By an investigation of the contents of a crevice in the wall of the cave in which "Nobody" lives Dick learns the identity of the mysterious person. Kate the next day watches Jack leave the saloon and follows him. Joe meanwhile leads Autumn up to the cross-road of the trail leading to Frenchy's cabin, where he has promised Jack to bring her. Kate sees Jack enter the cabin. He draws Autumn to him and kisses her passionately. Kate opens the door and dashes the contents of the pepper castor into Autumn's face. It blinds her. She then fires at Jack. Dick, walking along the trail, turns quickly as he hears the shot. Kate presses the gun into Autumn's hand and disappears into the next room. Dick enters and sees that Autumn still holds the hot revolver in her hand. Kate returns to the room with a surprised expression and Dick takes from her shoulders the shawl which shows a smoking hole through which the bullet had passed. Dick question the two girls and each denies her guilt. The crowd insists that Jack must be avenged and clamor to have both women hanged. A man seizes a coiled lariat from the wall and the mob leads the two girls to a tree nearby. Dick dispatches a boy to ride to headquarters to summon the mounted police. A horse is led under the hanging noose and as the mob makes a dash at the terrified women Dick holds up his hand and says. "Wait. The gallows shall decide between them; the innocent shall hang the guilty." Then addressing Kate, he says, "You say you are innocent. Are you prepared to hang this woman?" Kate shouts, "Fling the murderess on the horse at once and give me the whip." The mounted police are now in sight. Dick puts the same question to Autumn, asking her if she is prepared to hang Kate. Autumn moans, "I cannot." Dick exults at Autumn's answer and says to the crowd, "Judge for yourselves who is the guilty one." Kate makes a dash to escape through the crowd, which yells, "Hang the murderess." The mob gets Kate away from Dick. The mounted police pull up their horses and raise their rifles. The noose is about Kate's neck and the mob are about to draw it. Six rifles blaze away. The rope is severed and Kate falls fainting upon the horse's neck. Dick delivers his prisoner to the mounted police. Later we see Dick at the headquarters with "Nobody." Hop Lee enters and "Nobody" gives no sign of recognition. Captain Mills, who is on duty, questions both men searchingly. The surgeon declares it to be a case of lost memory resulting from a bullet wound which a successful operation will cure. Two weeks later "Nobody's" memory has been restored. He knows he is George Arden, but the past fifteen years remain a blank. He recalls that he left his wife in an old abandoned cabin near Camp Elora, but believes that this only happened yesterday. Dick takes "Nobody" to the old cabin in an effort to solve the mystery and "Nobody" remembers the cabin. Joe is prowling around the woods with his gun and with him is Autumn. Autumn, seeing the two men, approaches to ascertain what they want. "Nobody" sees her coming and takes her for his wife. A light dawns upon Dick. He summons Joe and asks, "Where is the girl's mother?" Joe answers, "She died here fifteen years ago." Then he points to her grave through the window. The mystery is solved and Dick makes his report to headquarters. A year later Dick and Autumn plan their marriage.
