Cross Creek

In 1928, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings reveals to her husband that her latest manuscript was rejected and she intends to start anew in Florida. She drives toward Cross Creek, but her car breaks down in the nearest town. Norton Baskin takes her the rest of the way to a run-down cabin and she resolves to stay and begin reviving the grove.

Rawlings settles into the cabin and begins to fix up the overgrown grove, facing doubts from Baskin and the Creek residents. The work is hard and the future uncertain, but the routine slowly drags her life into a new rhythm. With debris cleared and trees tended, a fragile sense of home starts to form.

Marsh Turner, with his daughter Ellie and her deer Flag, introduces the local community to Rawlings. Their visits bring warmth but also friction as outsiders begin to map the life of Cross Creek. Flag's presence foreshadows the tensions between land, animals, and people.

Geechee arrives and offers to work for Rawlings for a small wage, and Rawlings accepts despite concerns about finances. Geechee's quiet strength and honesty begin to weave a deeper bond between the author and the Creek people. The partnership marks a shift from isolation to collaboration.

Facing a languishing grove, Rawlings writes another novel in hopes of publication. She continues to observe the people around her, turning their stories into fiction, even as she questions her own success. The writing process hardens yet clarifies her connection to Cross Creek.

A young married couple moves into a cabin on Rawlings's land and soon learns to rely on themselves. The woman is pregnant and they reject Rawlings's attempts to help, causing Rawlings to confront her boundaries and the limits of hospitality. The couple's presence foreshadows the uneasy balance between generosity and independence in the community.

Rawlings enlists the help of Geechee and Baskin to unblock a vital irrigation vein, and the grove begins to recover. Water flows again and the trees regain vigor, giving Rawlings renewed hope. The project also cements new ties among the people who share the land.

The young couple's child is born, marking a moment of new life on the Cross Creek property. Despite the earlier tensions, the birth deepens Rawlings's sense of belonging to the place. Life continues to orbit around the grove and its caretakers.

Ellie's deer grows older and escapes its pen, threatening their crops. Marsh foretells that the deer will have to be killed, foreshadowing the harsh choices that come with living close to land. The episode intensifies the shared pressures on the grove and its guardians.

Geechee's husband is released from prison and arrives to stay with her, but he declines Rawlings's offer of work and leaves after a confrontation. The moment underscores the fragility of trust and independence within the community. Geechee remains, though, committing to stay with Rawlings.

Geechee chooses to stay, telling Rawlings that she should learn how to treat friends better. Rawlings accepts the critique with humility and deepens her bond with the land's people. The pair's evolving friendship becomes central to Cross Creek’s new family.

Perkins visits Scribner's and, after Push to write about real people, accepts Rawlings's Jacob’s Ladder—the story that originated from the couple’s life and the creek’s characters. The publication signals Rawlings's breakthrough and validation as a writer connected to Cross Creek. The work, Jacob's Ladder, later appears in Scribner's Magazine in 1931.

During Ellie's 14th birthday at the Turners' home, Flag escapes again and Marsh shoots him after he eats Turners’ vegetables. Marsh then spirals into a town binge, and the sheriff shoots him when he surrenders the shotgun. The event seeds the basis for The Yearling, tying the grove’s tragedy to national literature.

After Marsh's funeral, Ellie blames Rawlings and Rawlings leaves by motorboat, drifting for days in isolation. She returns and reunites with Geechee as neighbors rally to save the grove from an autumn frost. Ellie apologizes to Rawlings, and they reconcile, cementing a renewed circle around Cross Creek.

Baskin asks Rawlings to marry him, and she accepts after much hesitation about her independence. The engagement marks a turning point, binding her more deeply to Cross Creek and its people. She realizes her profound attachment to the land at Cross Creek.