Run for the Hills

On a Saturday morning in March 2007, 32-year-old Mad works at Running Knob Hollow Farm’s roadside stand in Coalfield, Tennessee. She and her mother run a successful organic farm featured in magazines. As late-morning customers arrive, Mad recalls a line from Willa Cather’s O Pioneers!, a book her father read to her before he abandoned her and her mother 23 years ago when Mad was nine.

A strange man in his forties arrives in a PT Cruiser. After an awkward exchange with Mad, he reveals that his name is Reuben “Rube” Hill and that he is her half-brother. They establish that they share the same father, Charles Hill, whom Mad knew as “Chuck.” Rube says he has not seen their father in over 30 years and becomes emotional. Mad invites him to the house. As they walk, Rube reveals that there are more siblings from their father. Mad expresses anger at their father for making more children and leaving them all. Though uncertain about finding Charles, Mad decides that she and Rube should go home and talk first, reflecting that having a brother may be enough for now.

At the farmhouse, Rube reveals that he is from Boston, as is their father. Mad is shocked, as her father claimed to be from Maine and the son of chicken farmers. Rube explains this was a lie; he has documentation proving their father was born in Boston, where his mother ran a dress shop and his father was absent. In Boston, their father worked in insurance and advertising and wrote detective novels under the name C. A. Hill. Rube reveals that he is also a mystery writer. Mad notes the parallel that she is a farmer like her version of their father, and Rube is a writer like his.

They compare their vastly different “dads”: Rube’s father liked lobster rolls and Boston Bruins hockey, while Mad’s loved ribs and UT Vols football. The only commonality is their father’s ecstatic happiness at major sporting events. They also discover a shared obsession with 8mm home movie cameras.

Rachel arrives to find Mad and Rube talking together. When Mad explains who Rube is, Mad suspects that Rachel is unsurprised. Rachel admits that while she did not know about Rube’s family, she knew Chuck had started a new family after leaving them. A year after his departure, Rachel received an envelope of money with a note instructing her to call a pay phone at a specific time, where Chuck told her he was starting over with a new woman. He called Rachel occasionally over the years on her birthday but never asked about Mad, which deeply hurts her now.

Rube explains that after his mother, Winona, died of cancer, he hired private investigator Evalynn Mann to find their father. The PI discovered two more siblings: a college student in Oklahoma and an 11-year-old boy in Utah. Their father is now in California. Rube asks Mad to join him on a cross-country trip to find their family. After initially refusing and retreating to the kitchen, Mad is persuaded by her mother to join Rube’s venture. Rube makes lunch (shirred eggs), and Mad notes the contrast between her father, who was a passionate cook, and Rube’s father, who apparently was not.

The narrative shifts to Rube’s backstory. Shortly after his mother’s death, on what would have been her birthday, their father called the old apartment looking for “Winnie.” When Rube told him his mother was dead, he hung up. Realizing his father called his mother but never him, Rube resorted to anger, broke up with his boyfriend, and hired the PI.

Mad packs with her mother’s help. Two days later, she and Rube depart the farm in the PT Cruiser with Rube driving and Mad navigating. Mad begins reading one of Rube’s novels, The Blackboard Detective, which was adapted into a film.

An 8mm home movie shows young Rube folding a paper airplane in an apartment hallway. His mother sits on a sofa reading a manuscript and smoking. Rube throws the airplane to her. She unfolds it, smiles at the message, goes to her typewriter to add a reply, refolds the paper into an airplane, and tosses it back. The camera lingers on the paper, bearing his handwritten declaration of love and her typed response. Rube and his mother go to the window and toss the airplane outside, watching it disappear.

By the time the siblings reach Memphis, Mad realizes she and Rube are still strangers. During Rube’s brief stay on the farm, Mad prepared for the trip and studied the PI’s dossier on their next sibling, Pepper “Pep” Hill, a star shooting guard for the University of Oklahoma women’s basketball team. Pepper is six-foot-one, and Mad sees a family resemblance in the photo.

Rube wants to visit Graceland, but Mad persuades him to get barbecue instead at the Cozy Corner restaurant. At the restaurant, Mad asks Rube about his relationship history. He confirms he is gay and has an ex-boyfriend. Mad says she likes men but has not dated seriously since college because the farm demands so much of her time. Rube explains his history of being closeted in high school and during his stint as a private-school teacher; he finally came out after his novel sold. He reveals that he never told his mother he was gay before she died. His therapist believes his fear of commitment stems from their father’s abandonment; Mad suggests he might also be afraid of being left again.

As Mad and Rube continue their drive across the Mississippi River, Mad realizes this is the farthest west she has ever been. She feels the connection to her farm as an anchor and returns to reading Rube’s novel.