The Claim

The gold rush of 1849 brings a young man (Mullan) to California, where he founds the town Kingdom Come. One drunken night, he trades his wife (Kinski) and daughter (Polley) for a bag of gold. Twenty years later, they come back for him, and it's the beginning of his downfall in a time that's already shaky for the town as the prosperity of the gold rush has already long since faded.

Based on the novel The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy.