Legends of the Fall

Sonia has graduated college and Nordstrom is in New York for the celebration. Sonia and her boyfriend are moving to Florence, Italy, and he tries to give Sonia money to buy a car while they are there. A friend invites a waitress named Sarah whom Nordstrom was interested in to the party. Throughout the party, she and Laura periodically go to the bathroom to do cocaine. Everyone at the party knows that he gave his money away and plans to travel, and they all imagine him going somewhere like India and are disappointed in his lack of plans. He ends up in the bathroom with Laura and Sarah, and they flip a quarter to see who will have sex with him, but Phillip interrupts. Back at the table, Sarah's husband, Slats, shows up to drag her out. Nordstrom hits Slats, who threatens him with death. Everyone but Nordstrom is worried about the threat. He could leave New York to avoid a confrontation but instead decides to stay and see how it plays out.

Sarah calls him the following day and says they have to talk. He agrees to meet her for lunch, understanding that she, Slats, and Berto, another man who was with them, have taken him for a fool. Sarah and Nordstrom have lunch and then go back to his hotel room. He anticipates that she will have sex with him and then try to extort him, and he is correct. But while she is in the shower after sex, he steals a gun from her purse. She threatens him, telling him Slats will kill him. He replies that he will not kill Slats if Slats doesn’t kill him. He refuses to be extorted, and she leaves her phone number, telling him to call her when he changes his mind.

Nordstrom understands that either Slats or Berto will try to kill him that night. He keeps his hotel room but also rents the adjoining room and moves into it. He places weapons and a homemade alarm system in his original room and waits in the adjoining room. That night, Berto breaks into the hotel room and Nordstrom throws him out the window. The next morning, police detectives show up, and he convinces them that he does not know anything about Berto’s death. He calls Sarah, tells her what happened, and invites her and Slats to lunch at the Waldorf. At lunch, he acts confrontationally, and the couple reconsiders their strategy. They come to detente, and he apologizes for hitting Slats. As it turns out, Sarah and Slats are not married, and this is a scam they work with rich men. He buys cocaine from them and pays Slats back for money that Berto had in his possession when he died. They part as friends. Nordstrom goes back to his room and thinks about whether to travel or visit his mother and Henry in Wisconsin.

It is now late October, nearly a year after his father's death. Nordstrom drives south in an old car with just a few boxes. He settles in a small town in Florida where he gets a job at a seafood restaurant. He lives in a tiny cabin next to a lagoon and works his way up to chef at the restaurant. He has an affair and earns local respect when he throws two drunks out of the restaurant. On his days off, he goes into the lagoon in a rowboat to explore and observe the wildlife. At night, he dances to the radio. He gets letters from Sonia, and his mother and Henry plan a bus trip to visit. One night during his break, two waitresses ask if he will take them to a local bar to dance. He has never danced in public but says yes. He goes with them and ends up dancing to the jukebox until the bar closes, even after everyone else stops.