The River We Remember

At Sunday dinner, Tom tells Brody that Noah and Terry had always had a rivalry because (Tom speculates) Jimmy had thought Noah was the stronger boy. Tom admits that their own father had unfavorably compared him to Brody. This news comes as a surprise to Brody, as their father had always told him to be more like Tom. After dinner, Brody talks with his mother. She is worried about him and even asks if he is gay. He laughs and tells her that he has not found the right girl. She asks about his experiences during the war. He thinks back: Initially, he had been stationed in North Africa, but he had eventually requested a transfer to the Pacific. There, in a jungle, he had been forced to kill one of his fellow soldiers because the man, sick with fever and screaming, would have alerted the nearby Japanese to their position. Horrified at what he had been forced to do, he spent the next few days wandering and had then been captured. He had been taken to a camp and tortured, and the memories still haunt him. After his mother leaves him outside, Garnet sits down. He tells her that they must stop their affair. Tearfully, she tells him that there is something he needs to look at.

Scott and Del head off to camp at Fort Beloit. Garnet shows up at Angie’s and asks about the journals. She tells Angie that she decided not to show them to Brody and asks Angie about her intentions towards him. She is surprised when Angie asks her how long their affair has been going on but does admit that she has loved Brody since she was 17. Later Brody shows up to take Angie on their date, but she asks if they can just talk. She tells him everything, and instead of being upset he is understanding and shares his own secrets from the war. They hug but are interrupted by a call on Brody’s radio: There has been a shooting at the Bluestone farm.

Del takes Scott to the Bluestone farm. It is Kyoko’s shower that he intends to spy on. Quinn and Creasy had been talking about it while drinking. The boys hide in the barn but make noise and are discovered by Kyoko’s dog. Del ends up shooting the dog, and they get away, but Connie, who had also been keeping his eye on the property, rushes to the scene to investigate and finds the dog.

Kyoko’s dog is going to live, and Brody retrieves the bullet from the veterinarian. Believing it to be from Tyler Creasy’s .22, which he had recently identified in another crime, he goes looking for him. He cannot immediately find him but does find Del, who behaves as though he were hiding something.

Brody talks with Kyoko and then Noah. He thinks that Tyler might have shot their dog and is happy to know that Connie will be staying with Kyoko. He takes Hector out for a walk and muses about the war and Black Earth County and its troubled inhabitants.

Creasy returns home and, having talked to his mother and learned that the sheriff is looking for him, beats up both Del and Del’s mother. Brody takes them to a doctor and then purchases two tickets for them so that they can go and stay with family in the Twin Cities. Until they leave, they are staying with Angie and Scott. Del wants to find Creasy and shoot him, and although Scott thinks this is a terrible idea, he goes out with his friend.

Fiona calls Charlie and asks to speak with her. They agree to meet halfway between Fiona and Jewel. Fiona explains to Charlie that Jimmy had sexually abused her for years as a teenager and that the abuse had only stopped when Marta came to live with them. The entire family had been aware but had been powerless to stop it. She adds that it is entirely possible that Marta, who had also been preyed upon by Jimmy, would have killed him to stop him from assaulting her own daughter Colleen, and that Noah and Marta had been lovers many years ago.

Scott and Del are missing, and Angie asks Brody to look for them. Although they were sighted with a gun making threats at the Creasy property, no one can locate the boys.

Charlie heads to the Quinn farm to speak with Marta. She tells her about the conversation she just had with Fiona and asks what really happened on the night of Jimmy’s death. Marta admits that Jimmy had gone after Colleen and that she had shot him when she found out. She had called Noah to help dispose of the body, and he and Kyoko came to help. She reveals that Noah is J.P.’s real father, and that because she was so ill, they had agreed that he would refuse to enter a plea and remain in jail until she died. Then, the letter that she had written along with a collection of photographs from the scene of the crime would be mailed to the county, freeing Noah. Just as she finishes her story, Creasy appears. After threatening the family, he goes into the barn and sets it on fire. A single gunshot is heard from the burning building.

The barn burns down, but Brody is unable to locate Creasy’s body in the wreckage. He, Connie, and his brother Tom are all at the scene now, and they agree that it seems likely Creasy fired the shot to fool the family into thinking he had killed himself and then snuck out. Knowing that Del and Scott are searching for Creasy, they realize that finding him first is of the utmost importance. Connie calls Kyoko and, getting no answer, sets off for the Bluestone farm.

Scott and Del are also hunting for Creasy, and although a bartender in one of the dives they visit in search of the man did see him a few hours prior, they cannot find him. They decide to retrieve their bedrolls and camp at Inkpaduta Point. Although Scott feels guilty for the worry that they must be causing their mothers, he remains with his friend. He is worried about what Del is likely to do if he finds Creasy. They fall asleep, but Del wakes Scott up: Creasy’s truck is visible near their campsite, but he is not there.

Charlie and Connie find Kyoko on the ground outside of her house, sobbing. It is clear that she has been raped.

The boys are still missing. Brody returns to the jail to tell Noah about Kyoko. Noah insists on seeing his wife, so Brody cuffs him and drives him to their farm. He and Kyoko speak, and she assures him that they will be okay in the end. He and Brody head back to the jail, but Noah tells Brody to pull over because he is going to be sick. When they exit the vehicle, Noah jumps on Brody, chokes him, finds the keys to the handcuffs, and uncuffs himself. He leaves in Brody’s vehicle, confirming to Brody that he is going in search of Creasy.

Creasy has returned, and Scott and Del watch from a hidden spot as he eats dinner by the light of a fire. Del accidentally makes a noise, alerting Creasy to the presence of someone else. They hear the ghostly weeping that so many people do at the river, and Del jumps up to shoot Creasy. The gun jams. Then, another figure leaps at Creasy from the shadows and a struggle ensues. The boys realize that the second figure is Noah Bluestone and that he has taken a shot meant for Del. Scott calls out Creasy’s name and then shoots him. His shot finds its mark. When the dust settles, both Noah and Creasy are dead. Brody shows up at the scene shortly, and Scott tells him what happened.

Kyoko leaves Black Earth County after deeding her land to J.P. Quinn. Although she had never been truly welcomed by the people in Jewel, everyone is sad to see her go.

Human lives are like rivers: They merge to form a much larger stream. Because each piece is only one part of a bigger whole, the river remembered by each person is different from the river remembered by another: There are multiple versions of the past.

Charlie lives for many years and remains friends with Angie and Brody. Scott becomes an attorney in Minneapolis. He marries Holly and has children. Del joins the military and dies in Vietnam. Kyoko moves to California and marries again. Brody marries Angie and dies in the act of saving his brother Tom from falling off a scaffolding.