"Lassie, come home!" "All right, folks, it's moving day." " I told you not to watch this crap." " I like "Lassie"." "Jennifer!" "You'll thank me when you're older." "Jennifer!" "Breakfast, honey." "You better hurry." " Oh, I'm sorry." " I'm fine!" "Matt!" "2.30!" "We're going!" "Steve, did you load that brown suitcase?" "It's under four suitcases." " I put Jennifer's books in it for the trip." " Why would you do that?" "I'm sorry." "Honey..." " Last minute jitters." " Me, too." " Does this move make sense?" " Yes." "We're going to be living in the house where Anne grew up." "I can handle that I think." "Jennifer, how many kids are there in the world?" " I don't know." " Billions, OK?" " A quarter of those are kids, right?" " Yeah." "Well, that means 250 million kids at about three presents a kid." "That means 750 million presents, in one night, with one guy and eight reindeer." " Dad!" " What's going on?" " Nothing..." "The guy is a hoax." " Mom!" "Her name is Laura." "We've got a long drive ahead of us, girl." "Matt, what do you say we stop and get something to eat?" "Hey, Matt!" " Matt!" " Look out!" "What a mess!" "I got it, here we go." "All right, people, back in your cars." "All right, load up." "Looks like we're moving." "Hey, Matt, look!" "It's Lassie!" "Jennifer, there's no such thing." "First Santa Claus, now..." " Holy cow!" " See, I told you." "It is Lassie!" " Jennifer..." " It's Lassie, Dad." " Jennifer, don't touch a strange dog." " It's hurt." " Jen, he'll be fine." "Come on." " It's a she!" " Come on!" " We can't just leave her here." " Steve..." " Honey, please!" "She's all alone." "Matt, hop in." "Lumber's half-price, so the cost is low, and there's no hassle for permits." " Can I play the jukebox?" "I got money." " No Paula Abdul or Janet Jackson." " You're not going to eat that?" " I'm not hungry." "Then why did you order it?" " Look, it's Lassie, she's back!" " Jennifer, it's not Lassie." " How do you know?" " Lassie doesn't exist." "Whatever doesn't exist just followed us here." " Can we keep her?" " Of course not." "Why?" "It probably belongs to somebody, and we're full enough as it is." " There she is." " How did you find us?" " Jen, be careful." " See, she loves us." "She wants to be with us." "Sweetie, she doesn't really love us, she just wants food." " Kids are supposed to have dogs." " Jennifer!" " It helps us grow up right." " I think she's sweet." " Honey, you too?" " It's weird enough as it is." " Why not add a dog?" " Honey, come on!" " Why not?" " Please, Dad!" "This is ridiculous." "Where would we put it?" "How about the back seat?" "Come on, let's take her." "Please, Dad!" " All right, the back seat." " Yes!" "Hey, Matt!" "Hey, cut it out!" "Cut it out!" "Get away from me." "I'm coming, I'm coming." "Move over." " This dog stinks." " Look who's talking!" "I don't have fur!" "Come here, Lassie." "Well, this is it." " Franklin Falls." " 148?" "It's the country, pal." "There's room out here." "148?" "There's more people than that in a supermarket." " Matt!" " There's more people on a subway." " You've never been on a subway." " I know what they hold." "You took us to nowhere." "That's where we've moved to." " Soon you'll like it here." " I'll take the bus back to Baltimore." " There's my grandkids!" " Grandpa!" " Hello, princess." " I missed you, Grandpa." "I missed you, too, honey." "And how's my big fellow?" " Is that an earring you're wearing?" " Yeah." " Hi, Len." " Hello, Steve." "Len, I'd like you to meet my wife, Laura." " I'm glad to meet you, ma'am." " It's a pleasure to finally meet you." "I can't tell you how good it is to have these two youngsters back with me." " What do we have here?" " That's our new dog." "Just a stray we picked up on the side of the road." "Just a stray?" "This is a beautiful dog." " It's a fine pedigree, I bet you." " See!" "I guess you would like to see the house before it gets dark." " I'll get the truck so you can follow me." " That's all right, I remember the way." "Thank you." "There you are." "I'll see you tomorrow." " See you then." " Bye-bye, Grandpa." " Good to see you, Matt." " Bye, Grandpa." "Matt, all aboard." "All right, come on." "Wow, is that our farm?" "It's beautiful!" "No, sweetie, we're up the road." "Wouldn't you know, it's starting to rain." "No way, this is it?" "Don't worry, it'll be better inside." "Wait, let me turn on the light." "Great." "Doesn't work." "Here you go, sweetie." "Be careful, Matt." "There's a note." "What?" "It's from Len." ""The electricity went down in a storm, should be back in a couple of weeks."" ""Sorry for the mess." "I tidied up the best I could." "Len."" " So there's no TV?" " No, Matt, there's no TV." "That's means there's no MTV." "Oh, great, really great." " Why don't we just kill ourselves?" " Matt..." "Take my hand, sweetie." "Watch your step there." "Let's take a look upstairs." "This bed seems OK." "We'll use sleeping bags until we get the sheets unpacked." " Why bother?" " You and I are going to unload the car." " Hey, don't forget this." " Great!" "No pavement!" "What'll I do with this?" "What kind of kid would want to live here?" "It wasn't so bad for your mother!" " Could this be my room, Laura?" " I don't think anyone will fight you for it." "Yes!" "Which room do you want, Matt?" "Still raining." " About what I said outside..." " Forget it, it was nothing." "No?" "You know after your mother died, I made a point not to talk about her in front of you, because I could see how much it upset you." "I don't know if that was the right thing to do." "I know we can't bring her back, but that doesn't mean we need to forget her." "Goodnight, son." " Dad, are you going to tuck me in?" " I'll be right there." " You, too, Laura." " OK, sweetheart." "I'm coming up." "Well, everybody wants a dog, I let the dog out." "That's all right." "Come on." "Oh, my..." "Cool!" " Pots and pans." " OK, that's a start." "All right, I'm off." " When I'm back, we'll go to the store." " Have a good meeting." " You've got breakfast?" " Five boxes of Pop-Tarts." " We don't have a toaster." " Get out of here." "I'll call you later and let you know how it goes." " We don't have a phone." " Honey, it's going to be fine." "I know." " See you later." " OK." "Jennifer and I are going for a walk, do you want to come?" "It's not like the city, you know." "We'll both be short on friends here." "What do you want?" "Hey, come on, cut it out." "Look, I said cut it out!" "Hey!" "Hey!" "Come back here!" "Come on, give me those!" "Drop those!" "Drop those right now!" "I'm going to kill you!" "Give me my headphones!" "Wait a minute!" "Stay!" "Stay!" "Heel!" "Give me those!" "If you don't drop those..." "Whoa!" "How did you find this place?" "Man, they got a rope here and everything." "Cool." "Looks cold!" "That was awesome!" "That was totally awesome!" "I'm not kidding!" " Anything with that?" " No, I'm fine." "Thank you." "Mr Jarman, since our last conversation, I've worked out 3 preliminary options, depending on how much of the structure will remain." " Based on your budget..." " That's what we need to talk about." "What?" "Hi, Steve, how did it go?" " They don't want it." " What?" " The new house, remodelling, nothing." " Why?" "He says he was running high credit at the bank, way too high." "The man just lost half his flock, and insurance isn't going to pay for it." "Len, I pulled my kids out of school." "This was going to cover me for 6-9 months." "It's a lousy break." "It's a damn lousy break, but you got you one job, you'll get another." " That or some other type of work." " What other work?" "In the store, I hear about things." "There's always folks needing help fixing this or that." "You mean, being a handyman?" "Len, I'm a builder, I'm a contractor." "Stop!" "Don't shoot!" "Hey, mister, that's my dog!" "Don't worry." "I think I know the difference between a coyote and a collie." "Now, boys are another thing." "I don't often see one I don't know on my land." " Aren't lost, are you?" " No, I know my way." " I'm staying down at the Collins farm." " Collins?" "I bet you had to dust the cobwebs out of that place." " Yeah, you're not kidding." " Well, have a nice visit." "Thanks, but we're not visiting, we're going to live there." "Live there?" "Well, now that's good news." "I got two boys just about your age." "I'll send them around." "You tell your daddy Sam Garland says welcome." "Went out hunting coyotes today..." "Josh, pass this down to your mother." "I ran into a youngster who said they was moving on to the Collins place." "That's all right." "As long as they don't mess around with our flock." " Right, boys?" " They won't, sir." " Me and Jim will take care of that." " That's what I like to hear." "Sam, you mustn't encourage the boys to do anything malicious..." "Now, Mildred, who said anything about malicious?" "I just want my boys to keep an eye on things." "We need that pasture." " You know what I mean, right, Jim?" " Yes, sir." " Josh, you know what I'm talking about?" " Yes, sir." "Mildred, you're a wonderful cook." " I don't understand." " What don't you understand?" "They've gone under." " And you want to stay anyway?" " Where are we going to go, Laura?" " Home." " There's no such thing any more." " I could get my job back at the bank." " I could get other work here." " Doing what?" " I'll find something." "Honey, look..." "I don't want the kids to grow up in the city." "I'd like them to see the sky, hear the birds, not that noise." "I'd like them to walk home at night and not worry what's behind them." " Am I really wrong to feel that way?" " No, of course not." " Don't worry." "They'll think you're cool." " Really?" "Yeah." "Class, we have a brand new student in grade 8 that's just moved to the area." "Matt Turner doesn't know anyone here, so I want us all to make him welcome." "And now April will give us a grade 9 presentation of her 4-H Club project." "Jim, Josh, stop that." "This is Charlotte, a 6-month-old Toggenburg goat, who I helped birth and then disbudded at one week." "Toggenburgs are the oldest registered breed of any animal in the world." "They're light brown with white accents and are excellent milk producers." "Thank you, April." "That was a very imaginative demonstration." "I'd like to encourage the rest of you to accompany their science projects with practical demonstrations like the one April presented." "Now, if you turn in your books to chapter 17..." "How are you doing, girl?" "Can you believe that?" "Show-and-tell with a goat?" "I can't believe I live here!" "You know what would happen at my old school if I put a goat on a desk?" "Hey, wait up!" "I'm not a dog, you know." "Are you sure this is the right way back?" "Yeah, I guess you're right." "Probably through those trees." "Come on, this isn't funny." "Is this the only trick you know?" "Give me back my bag!" "Come on, wait up, will you!" "I told you, it's not funny!" "Give me my bag." "You like making me chase you, don't you?" "Hey, come on, quit it." "There it is." "It doesn't look like such a dump from up here." ""AC"..." "That's my mom!" "AC, that's my mom, Anne Collins." "How did you know?" "Once we get the weeds out, we could have flowers, some geraniums..." "And over here would be a great place for a vegetable garden." " A garden?" " Yeah." " What do you know about gardening?" " Not a thing." "Hi, Steve..." "Laura." "I told you I'd hear about some work, and I have." "At the Walker ranch they're repairing all the outbuildings and the fences." "They'll furnish all the tools, you won't have to bring a thing." " Repairing fences..." " Well, that's all there is for now." "No, I understand." "Well, at least I'll be outside." " Your apple pie is great, Laura." " In celebration of good old electricity." " What is this thing?" " It looks like an old record player." "Are these old CDs?" "No, sweetie, these are 45s." "Let's see if this thing works." " Did you try plugging it in?" " Yeah." ""Proud Mary"..."Jimmy Mack"..." "I used to listen to these when I was a kid." "Those records were your mom's." "She used to play them all day long." "Just like Matt with his head attachment." "I know this one." "Mom used to sing it to us." "Remember, Matt?" "There are places I remember" "All my life, though some have changed" "Some forever, not for better" "Some have gone and some remain" "All these places have their moments" "With lovers and friends I still can recall" "Some are dead and some are living" "In my life, I've loved them all..." "What, you can't find it?" "What is it?" "I'm coming." "What is it, girl?" "What are you looking at, girl?" "It's my mom's diary." "Thanks, Lassie." ""April 23..."" ""Today I got up early and rode Lucky through the high pasture,"" ""all the way to the mountain pool."" "It was too cold to swim, so we sat there for a while," "I forgot about the time and was almost late for school." "On Saturday, Dad let me help him split wood and showed me how to mend the goat pen and put up the new wire in the chicken coop." "Mom said, "What are you teaching her to use axe and hammer for?"" "Daddy said, "So she can take the place over some day, if she wants to. "" ""Maybe raise her own kids here. "" "I didn't tell Mom then, but that's just what I want, have a real sheep farm some day, right here." "After all, we've got some of the best grazing land around." "Of course I'll need to get a sheepdog, I already know what kind, a collie." "I think I'll name it Lass..." "Sing me the one about the mockingbird." "Oh, I think I know that one." "Hush, little baby, don't say a word" "Daddy's gonna buy you a mockingbird" "And if that mockingbird don't sing" "Daddy's gonna buy you a diamond ring" "And if that diamond ring don't shine" "Daddy's gonna buy you..." "something nice." " I love you, Mom." " I love you, too." "Lassie, believe me, you don't want to go out in that storm." "Lassie?" "No, Lassie!" "Good girl!" "Quiet, girl." "Don't wake them up." "Come on, girl." "You're a pretty brave dog." "What happened?" " Nothing, Jen." "Go back to bed." " She's hurt." "She's fine." "Help me dry her off." "Hey, I told you to be quiet." "Hey, I thought I told you to be quiet, too." "What did you think of the flip, Lassie?" "Not bad, huh?" "Are you kidding?" "That was great." "Where did you learn how to do that?" " That's no big deal." " Yeah?" "You can't do it." " How do you know, dung head?" " Because I know you're a spaz." "You're Matt, right?" ""Let's all make Matt real welcome, because he doesn't know anybody here."" " Knock it off, Jim." " What?" "I'm April Porter." "This is Jim and Josh Garland." " You're from the Collins farm, right?" " Yeah." " What a hole!" " We like it OK." " Can you do a back flip?" " Sure." " Let's see." " Yeah, maybe some other time." " Come on, do it!" " He can't do it." " I can do it, I just don't want to." " Yeah, right." "He just doesn't want to." "Our dad is the biggest sheep farmer in the whole state." "My folks are going away this weekend." "Why not come over Saturday night?" " We're going to rent some cool videos." " I don't think so, Josh." "My parents already have other plans." "Wait till you see our place." "Now this is a real farm." "Stay here, Lassie." "I'll only be a minute." "Come on in." "Make yourself at home." "You have a swimming pool in your living room." " You like guns?" " Yeah, I guess." "Look at that." "Bolt-Action.22. It's mine." "You get all this from raising sheep?" "Sure do." ""Warm, durable American wool."" " We know the motto, Jim." " Well, he doesn't." "I'm coming, girl." "Lassie?" "Where did you go?" "Lassie!" "There she is." "Bringing in a stray." "As good as any sheepdog." "Good girl, Lassie." "Hey, Matt..." "Ever seen so many lamb chops on a hoof?" " Josh!" " April's so sensitive." "They're not pets, April." "Just wool and good eating." "I've got to go." "Bye." " Well, I'll see you guys around." " Yeah." "See you." "Come on, Lass!" "Come on, girl." "Big city guy's going to run off with your girlfriend." "Shut up, lame-brain!" "You stretch the wire, you pound in the staple and you go on to the next post." "Stretch the wire, pound in the staple, go on to the next post..." "Oh, my God!" "I have a question:" "what does 4-H mean?" "It stems from..." ""Head, Heart, Hands and Health."" ""Head, Heart, Hands..."" " Well, see you." " Bye." " Bye." " Bye." ""Twenty-five years of my life and still..."" ""..." "I'm trying to get up that great big hill of..."" ""...hope!"" "That was good." "Hey, where are you going?" "Wait up!" "Coyotes." "It'll be all right." "It'll be fine." "It's just sleeping." "Lassie, I don't know what to do." "I'm not a vet." "Just forget about it." "All right..." "Come on, Lass..." "Here." "Is April here?" "It's OK, Dad." "Hi..." "I was wondering if you'd come over to my house for a little while?" "The thing is, I need some help." "It's in here." " Will it be OK?" " I don't know." "Sometimes they can make it without a mother, sometimes they can't." "It just depends on the sheep." "Keep a blanket over it tonight, because it'll probably get pretty cold in here." "I'll bring you some extra formula tomorrow." "Yeah, you like that, don't you?" "Yeah, you do." "I don't think it's hurt." "It just looks really hungry." " You are from Baltimore, right?" " Yeah." "I've been there once." "It was cool." " Thanks for coming over." " Sure." " I better get going home." " Yeah." " I'll see you tomorrow." " Right." " Matt, guess what!" " Not now, Jen." " But guess what!" " What?" "We're going home!" " Moving back?" " It's not definite, I'll know in a few days." " What are you talking about?" " Your dad got a call about a good job." "In Baltimore." "They've been trying to reach him for a week." "That place I interviewed a month ago." "At the time, they didn't have anything." " You don't have to take it, do you?" " No, but I need a hell of a reason not to." " What about the job you have here?" " Mending fences at 5 dollars an hour?" "Hey, what's going on?" " I thought you'd want to move back?" " Yeah, sure." "Why not?" "Look, it doesn't matter to me either way." "I didn't tell Mom then, but that's just what I want to do, have a real sheep farm some day, right here." " What do you mean, how do they do it?" " You saw their ranch." " They make a fortune." "How?" " Well, they raise a lot of sheep." " And that's it?" " Well, yeah..." " And they've got the best pasture." " That's what I'm trying to say!" " Now, where is this pasture-land?" " I don't know." "Down around Greenly's, the whole high meadow." "Why?" " Well, that's their flock, right?" " Yeah." " And this is their pasture-land, right?" " Right." "So what's that fence?" "I come by every day, and there's no other fence between here and our farm." "I've seen their sheep grazing all over here, all the way up to the creek." " All right, let's say that this is our land." " I don't know." "Let's just say." "Somebody has put that fence here for something." "You know, raising sheep is not as easy as it looks." " You need pens and sheepdogs..." " I've got the dog!" "Lassie, go!" "Round them up!" "Bring them here, girl!" "Good girl!" "This is our boundary, right?" "Our farmhouse is right here." " I can read a plat map." " All right, sorry." " This is the Garlands' ranch." " Yeah, I've seen it." "And whose land are they using?" "Ours." "They've got sheep all over that pasture." " It's the best grazing land in the area." " If it's done right, you can make money." "300 ewes and 20 rams, by the end of next year you have 450 sheep." " What's going on?" " Your brother just lost his mind." "You should see the Garlands' ranch..." "I'm a contractor." "I don't know the first thing about farming, neither do you." " Grandpa does." " I'm no expert, but I know the basics." "With the animals and the construction, that's doing labour ourselves, we could probably get started for 30-35,000." "I'm sorry, Matt." "I'd be lucky to cover half of that." "If you'd be willing, I'd be glad to put up the other half." "That's very generous of you, but we couldn't ask you to do that." "Nothing generous about it." "The fact is, I'm kind of thinking about myself." "I'd sure like to have these grandkids around me." "You want to stay here?" "Yeah." "Yeah, I really do." "What do you think we should do?" "I wish I knew." "Come on..." " Let me try." " OK, just don't tilt the bottle too much." " Come on, you're drowning the thing." " I am not." "That's enough." "That's done." "Don't worry, I've got another one." "There you go." "Well, I hope you're not driving." "Me, too." "That's the whole flock." "I brought them down from the high pasture on Friday." "So, how many is that?" "That's 380 ewes and 34 rams." "380 and 34, that's just about right for the land we got." "How much?" "Like I said on the phone, I don't know about this." "Sam Garland said he might be interested in the whole flock." "So are we." "What's he offering?" "We talked about 57 a head for the ewes." "We'd like to offer you 60 dollars a head, Pete." "Well, 60 is fair." " I'd say so." " More than fair." " But Garland was here first." " I don't understand the problem." "We'd like the whole flock, we're offering 3 dollars more." "It's all right, Mr Jarman." "We respect your position." "I'm sure you and Sam Garland go way back, and he'd do the same for you." "I hope we didn't take up too much of your time." "Come on." "I'm sorry we couldn't work something out, Pete." "Honey!" "Honey, what are you doing?" "Don't worry." "He's pressuring himself more than we ever will." "Hey, hold up a minute." "The flock is yours if you can pay today."