Last Stand at Saber River 1997

Near the end of the Civil War, Paul Cable, [Tom Selleck], returns home to Texas after years away fighting for the Confederacy. His wife, Martha, [Suzy Amis], is a stubborn, capable frontier woman whose independence has long given her fleet-footed strength and a voice that won’t be silenced. She had been told he was killed in action, and his sudden homecoming stirs old tensions: she resumes her duties as his wife, yet resents the long years they lost and the war that pulled him away from their family.

Despite their deep history and the love that has always tethered them, Paul Cable and Martha find themselves almost strangers, their shared life frayed by time and hardship. Their youngest daughter’s fever took a toll on Martha, who carried that loss without Paul beside her, sharpening her defenses and hardening her resolve. Her father, James Sanford, [Harry Carey Jr.], scolds her for her stubborn stance toward Cable, but she stands firm, knowing she’s built a life on her own terms and will defend it.

With a plan to return to Arizona and reclaim the ranch he owns there, Paul and his family pack up and set out. Along the way, they encounter Lorraine Kidston, [Tracey Needham], a striking ramrod cowgirl who is the daughter of rancher Duane Kidston, [David Carradine], and sister to Vern Kidston, [Keith Carradine], a former Union Army man who shares his brother’s skepticism about former Confederates. Lorraine’s group of riders crosses paths with the Cables during the night, when a stampede of horses threatens the camp. After the chaos, Lorraine and her men realize the man in front of them is Paul Cable, believed dead by many, and the revelation shifts the power dynamics at Cable’s new home.

The Kidstons—Duane and Vern—have little use for a Confederate survivor trying to claim a ranch they now see as theirs. Upon reaching Cable’s ranch, Duane and Vern clash with Paul and Martha. The confrontation escalates when two of the men draw their weapons, but Martha acts decisively from the shadows, firing a double-barreled shotgun and killing them. This event seeds a continuing feud, with several of Duane and Vern’s hired guns meeting their end at Cable’s hands. Yet as the fighting grows, a subtle shift begins: Vern and Lorraine start to see that restoring the Cable family to their own land might be the saner path, even if Duane resists.

In the background of this feud rises a more dangerous threat. Edward Janroe, [David Dukes], a one-armed Confederate sympathizer and former soldier, enters the picture and murders Duane, throwing suspicion onto Cable even as Vern refuses to abandon him. Janroe’s actions pull Cable and Vern into a tense mission: Janroe kidnaps Cable’s daughter to leverage an illegal gun deal with Mexican bandits. The chase is relentless, with Cable and Vern pursuing Janroe, ultimately killing him and then turning their attention to the bandits.

Cable and Vern engage the criminals in a brutal showdown, and Cable, though wounded, refuses to yield. He asks Vern to take his daughter to safety, a plea Vern fulfills, pulling the girl away from the immediate danger. Cable continues the fight alone, and the bandits choose to withdraw after the wreck of Janroe’s wagon is cleared, deciding the confrontation isn’t worth the cost of their own lives.

Returning home physically battered, Cable is tended by Martha, whose understanding of him has deepened through trial and hardship. She sees the man behind the battles and the flaws that once divided them, and she chooses to forgive, to let go of the bitterness that had clouded their marriage. In a quiet, enduring moment, she accepts Paul as he is, renewing the bond that binds them and their family to the land they fight to protect.

Throughout the journey, the film weaves themes of duty, loyalty, and reconciliation against a backdrop of frontier life and the lingering shadows of a divided country. It presents a portrait of a family under pressure, where old debts and new dangers collide, and where forgiveness becomes the keystone that can sustain them through the violence and upheaval that would otherwise pull them apart.