Plot

A drifter named Beaudray Demerille wins a young orphan named Wanda in a poker game and takes her gold prospecting in the Grand Canyon.

Romantic drama following the fortunes of a drifter named Beaudray Demerille (Peter Fonda) who wins a young orphan named Wanda (13-year-old Brooke Shields) in a poker game and takes her gold prospecting in the Grand Canyon.—Jonathan Broxton <j.w.broxton@sheffield.ac.uk>

The story starts in 1950's Nevada with 13 ½ year old Wanda Nevada (Brooke Shields) primping in front of a barber shop mirror while her current companion, Slade (Larry Golden) is in a heated poker game in the back room with gambler and con man Beaudray Demerille (Peter Fonda). Slade runs out of money and uses Wanda as a marker. Demerille wins the hand, but Slade claims that he cheated and a confrontation results in which Slade is shot. Demerille grabs his winnings, including Wanda, and takes off in his Studebaker.

Wanda reveals that she a runaway from an orphanage with dreams of being a country-western singer. Demerille tells her he will not let her go until she pays back the money she was the marker for. The two stop overnight at a cheap motel with a suspicious front desk clerk (Teri Shields), but Demerille keeps a respectful distance from Wanda, though he makes her sleep on floor.

In the next town Demerille is trying to sucker gangster Ruby Muldoon (Luke Askew) during a pool match at the local saloon while Wanda and Ruby's sidekick, a shifty looking character named Strap (Ted Markland), look on. In the middle of the game an elderly prospector, Texas Curly (Paul Fix), wanders into the bar claiming he had found gold in the Grand Canyon. Everyone laughs at him till he pulls out a bag full of gold nuggets.

Wanda is waiting outside the bar when she sees Texas Curly leave and the bag of nuggets fall out of his back pocket. She picks it up and is considering if she should return it to him when she hears Ruby and Strap leaving the bar and hides. She then sees them follow Texas Curly and murder him in an attempt to find the location of the gold mine. Strap and Ruby then see Wanda has observed the murder and give chase. Strap and Ruby try to overtake Demerille and Wanda in the Studebaker, but Demerille manages to shoot out a tire on Ruby's car sending it crashing into a roadside sign.

An examination of the bag reveals not only nuggets, but a treasure map. Demerille takes Wanda to a store near the canyon where he trades his car for pack mules, clothes and equipment for an expedition to find the gold. During the trip down into the canyon the two meet an old prospector (Henry Fonda) going the other way who tells them "Everybody knows there no gold in the Grand Canyon" a running gag line that is repeated throughout the film.

The two follow the map and run into a number of strange characters on the trip. The first is an English bird watcher named Bitterstix (Severn Darden) who takes an unhealthy interest in Wanda and is subsequently killed by the of ghost of an Apache Indian that guards the treasure. They also run into a lady landscape photographer (Fiona Lewis) who takes a romantic interest in Demerill making Wanda jealous. Finally, they also run into the Apache Ghost himself (Geno Silva).

Demerill and Wanda eventually find the treasure and bag it, but return to their camp to find it in disarray, littered with Indian arrows and lances. Realizing that the ghost will not let them leave with the gold, they throw it over the cliff. The ghost has scared off their mules so they try to walk out of the canyon only to meet Ruby and Strap who have been trailing them. A gunfight erupts and Wanda and Demerill drive off Ruby and Strap. When they run into the gansters again they find them dead, crucified by the ghost.

Demerill and Wanda head down to the river where they are lucky to find the gold they threw over the cliff and a half buried river boat. Digging out the boat they float down the river with the gold until they beach it for the night. As Wanda sleeps, Demerill is shot by the ghost with an arrow. He manages to push the boat out into the current, then collapses. Wanda awakens and sees Demerill laying apparently fatally wounded in the bottom of the boat. Thinking he is dying, he finally tells her he loves her, and she respondes the she loves him as he falls unconscious.

In the next scene we see Wanda back in her dowdy orphanage dress sitting in a hotel room. An orphanage administrator and two nuns have come to collect her and take her back. She bolts from the room to the lobby were she is surrounded by reporters anxious to get the story on her escape from the Grand Canyon.

As she answers their questions standing on the hotel porch, a brand-new convertible pulls up behind her driven by Demerill who has apparently recovered from the arrow wound, though he still sports a sling. Wanda leaps into the passenger seat. As they drive away a reporter asks Demerill about the treasure, to which he replies, "Everybody knows there no gold in the Grand Canyon!"

As they drive down the road Demerill points to a box in the back seat tied with a bow. Wanda opens it and finds a fancy, new dress. She changes out of her orphanage uniform in the back seat, and then joins Demerill in the front. Together they drive into the sunset and the film ends.