In Oscar-winning director George Stevens's sprawling epic, Texas cattleman Bick Benedict (Rock Hudson) journeys to Virginia in the early 1920s, falls in love with aristocratic, independent-minded Leslie Lynnton (Elizabeth Taylor) and takes her back to his ranch -- setting the stage for an intergenerational saga that spans decades. James Dean (in his last film appearance) co-stars as sulking, nouveau riche Jett Rink -- the root of Bick's worries.