An adaptation of William Shakespeare's "King Lear," which takes place on a Texas ranch during the revolt against Mexico in the 1840s. A land baron of awesome authority is embroiled in a life and death struggle with the elements, family greed and the violent threat of war.John Lear's legacy is his empire built from a raw stretch of Texas land. But as his glory days slip away, he chooses to divide it among his daughters: Claudia, closest to her father's spirit, and the avaricious Susannah and Rebecca. But Lear's plan comes with a hitch; only the daughters who prove their love will share the inheritance. Susannah and Rebecca are all too willing to secure their future with lies. But Claudia refuses to indulge her father, and for her honesty, she is stripped of the Lear family name and banished forever.
Alone and afraid, Claudia seeks shelter with her Tejano friend, Toribo Menchaca. He is also her father's mortal enemy -- a man who scouted for the Mexican army, and whom Lear holds responsible for the death of his sons in the Goliad massacre. But Claudia's exile becomes a catalyst for something far more divisive than standing with the enemy. As the manipulative Susannah and Rebecca have secured a stranglehold on the Lear property and their father banished Claudia, they now banish Lear into the wilds. Battling unpredictable threats of nature, the dangers of a secret assassin, and an encroaching, inescapable madness, Lear reaches toward a desperate reunion with Claudia, and an inevitable destiny shadowed by the sins of a father.