All The Pretty Horses (film) - Plot

Plot

In 1949, young cowboy John Grady Cole and his best friend Lacey Rawlins leave their family ranches in San Angelo, Texas and cross the border on horseback south to Mexico to seek work. They encounter on the trail a peculiar 13-year-old boy named Jimmy Blevins, whom they befriend, and later meet a young aristocrat's daughter, Alejandra Villarreal, with whom Cole falls in love.

Cole and Rawlins become hired hands for Alejandra's father, who likes their work, but Cole's romantic interest in his daughter is unwelcome by her wealthy aunt. After Alejandra is taken away by her father, Cole and Rawlins are arrested by Mexican police and taken to jail, where they again find Blevins.

Blevins has been accused of stealing a horse and murder. He is killed by a corrupt police captain. Cole and Rawlins are sent to a Mexican prison for abetting Blevins' crime, where they must defend themselves against dangerous inmates. Cole and Rawlins are both nearly killed.

Cole is freed by the aunt of Alejandra on the condition that she never sees him again. Rawlins is also freed. While Rawlins returns to his parents' ranch in Texas, Cole attempts to reunite with Alejandra over her family's objections. Her aunt is confident that Alejandra will keep her word and not get back together with Cole - so much so that she even gives him her niece's phone number. Cole urges Alejandra to come to Texas with him. She, however, decides she must keep her word and though she loves him, she will not go with him.

Cole then sets out to get revenge on the captain who took the Blevins boy's life, as well as to get back his and Lacey's and Blevins' horses. After making the captain his prisoner, he turns him over to Mexican men, including one with whom he previously shared a cell.

Riding through a small town in Texas and towing two horses behind the one he is riding, he stops to inquire what day it is (it is Thanksgiving Day). He asks if a couple of men would be interested in buying a rifle, as he needs the money. One is a sheriff's deputy and arrests him because all three horses have different brands and Cole is suspect as a horse thief.

In court, Cole tells the judge his story from the beginning. The judge believes him and orders him freed and the horses returned to him. Later that evening, Cole shows up at the judge's home and is troubled. The judge had said good things about him in court but he feels guilty that Blevins was killed - and while there was nothing he could have done to prevent the killing, he never even spoke up at the time and is upset with himself for that. The judge tells him he is being too hard on himself and it could not have been helped; he must go on and live his life.

Cole rides up to Lacey Rawlins on his family's ranch and asks him if he wants his horse back.