Damnation Spring

Rich and Don’s crew win the contract for the downed redwoods, a job that should pay them around $15,000 each. That is enough to take some pressure off Rich, even if he has missed another mortgage payment in the meantime.

Later, Rich hears a disturbance and finds Eugene beating up Daniel. Eugene is holding his head under the creek’s water and all but drowning him. Rich and Quentin intervene and rescue a battered Daniel.

Rich and Daniel clear the air between them over Daniel’s tryst with Colleen. But Rich advises Daniel that Eugene won’t let up next time. He needs to leave town immediately if he wants to do so alive.

Colleen visits the work site but misses Rich. Eugene gloats and reveals he planted the skulls that shut down Damnation Grove, buying Merle time to execute his plans and screw over Rich. Eugene sends Colleen off in search of Rich in the wrong direction.

As Colleen drives off to the dead end of Deer Rib, Chub waits to be picked up from school. Gail drives him home, where Rich eventually arrives. Colleen makes it back, but Rich tells her Daniel is leaving and she should go with her last sample to him right now. She does and says an awkward goodbye to her former lover and the community’s provocateur.

Chub is warming to Merle’s old dog. Rich is staying busy cutting firewood, but the bills are mounting. Colleen resolves to find part-time work.

It is the day before Chub’s birthday. He and Rich hike up to the 24-7 and Rich tests him on his local geography. However, Chub struggles to orient himself because of the way the destruction and harvesting at Damnation Grove has changed the landscape.

Meanwhile, Colleen gets a visitor at the house: an assistant to the local congressman. He indicates his boss is willing to speak to Rich about the access roads Rich now needs to get his timber down from the ridge and through the grove.

When Rich returns home, Colleen has moved on to other business. Rich finds her in the bathroom where she has just taken another pregnancy test. This time, the news is happier: She is pregnant, and she knows it is by Rich.

Rich meets the congressman. The congressman wants a payoff from Rich, either to grease the wheels for Rich’s access road, or to negotiate the sale of the land to the parks commission. The congressman thinks he has Rich right where he wants him.

Rich gives Chub his pocket knife, having himself inherited Lark’s. He stows it in a drawer at home and makes sure Chub knows he has to ask permission to use it.

Enid drops off her kids with Colleen and Rich to look after them. Wyatt finds Chub’s knife and wants to play with it, but when he goes to the toilet, Chub takes it, hides it in his pocket, and slips outside to keep it from Wyatt. Wyatt is soon on his trail and begins to chase him. In his panic, Chub runs into the changed part of the woods and soon gets lost. Wyatt finally catches him and jumps him. But when Wyatt throws Chub to the ground, he bashes Chub’s head against a rock. Chub hears his parents calling for him before he passes out.

It takes a while for it to dawn on Colleen that Chub is missing, but when he and Wyatt don’t appear for dinner, she begins to worry. Rich springs into action, wading into the woods and calling for the boys. It is eight p.m. before he returns, carrying Chub’s discarded slicker. There are tracks from the chase everywhere. Colleen calls Harvey, the local police officer. Enid turns up to collect her brood, too.

Wyatt appears, smeared with blood. Colleen screams at him and smacks him, demanding to know what has happened. When Wyatt says Chub fell and is somewhere near the road, Rich jumps in the truck and races off to find him. Rich reaches him as the sun is going down. He is alive, but cold and disoriented.

A stitched-up Chub is on the road to recovery and is well enough to play tricks on his dad. Rich jokes around with him in the woods, before the sight of a bear stops them in their tracks and they make their way home, touched by an encounter with Mother Nature.

A nervous Rich drives to the bank, hoping he can smooth over the issue of missing mortgage payments and get back on track servicing the daunting loan. However, the bank teller informs him there are no missing payments. In fact, Lark paid off Rich’s entire debt before he died.

The news stuns Rich. In a daze, he buys a goldfish and bowl for Chub and a necklace for Colleen. He gets back in the car. On the beach road, the goldfish bowl slips from the seat and distracts Rich. As he grabs the bowl, he swerves into oncoming traffic then desperately tries to swerve out the way. He crashes over the side of the precarious road and breaks his neck in the process.

At the house, Wyatt apologizes to Chub and Colleen, and Colleen and Enid reconcile over the news of Colleen’s pregnancy. Just as Colleen is wondering where Rich is, Harvey drives up and delivers the news.

Enid reflects on how much Colleen loved and relied on Rich. She also reveals it took days for the police boats and divers to recover his body.

In the aftermath of Rich’s funeral, Colleen ignores the phone’s ringing and falls asleep with one of Rich’s shirts, pulled from the laundry basket.

Harvey drops by and promises Colleen Rich died without feeling a thing. Colleen presses on, trying to make sense of the paperwork piling up around her. Other members of the community drop by to help her with food or odd jobs. Marsha thinks Rich may have life insurance sold to him by the company, but neither she nor Colleen can find the details of the mortgage on the ridge.

Colleen and Chub venture out together to the creek. It is the first time Colleen has had to clear out the blockages in their waterline herself. Colleen manages to do it. Chub finds his dad’s knife, lost in the struggle with Wyatt, in the water.

Colleen’s pregnancy is starting to show. She tries to pack away Rich’s belongings, but they stir up too many memories. Instead, she delves into the beautifully carved box Lark left him and finds a treasure trove of old photos—of Lark and of Rich in his younger days. Beneath the pictures, Colleen unearths an envelope marked, “Not a lot of guys are born to do something” (441). It is the deed to 24-7 Ridge. Colleen and Chub go outside for a walk, onto the land they now own. Colleen remembers Rich and sees his legacy in the green eyes Chub inherited from him.