In 1930`s southwestern New Mexico, drought and the Great Depression are hitting ranchers and homesteaders hard. Roosevelt`s New Deal is just beginning to "turn the country around", and Eleanor, anathema to some, is a source of inspiration for ranch wives Ruby Aragon and Gardy Trotter. The women, and husbands Manny and Cass, have dreams: stardom in the "talkies", a Spanish land-grant, and a lost gold mine. Reality is drought, a ne`er-do-well son, and a decrepit old "flivver." The saga ambles and rollicks along to blue-grass banjo.