Days of Heaven (1978) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Bill schemes to inherit the farmer's fortune. Knowing the farmer is terminally ill with only a year to live, Bill sees marriage as a quick path to wealth, he calculates that once the farmer dies, he and Abby will claim the inheritance. This reveals Bill's controlling nature and his willingness to manipulate Abby for financial gain.

Foreshadowing: Earlier, Bill overhears the doctor's prognosis about the farmer's terminal condition, giving him the idea.

• bill
• abby
• marriage
• inheritance
• scheme
• farmer

Abby grows genuinely attracted to the farmer's shy, kind, and sincere nature, qualities Bill lacks. Over time, she witnesses the farmer's genuine goodness: he tries to be a good father figure to Linda, treats her with respect, and shows authentic emotion. Meanwhile, Bill's manipulation becomes clear to her, making the farmer's honest affection more appealing.

Foreshadowing: Abby's earlier doubt about whether Bill truly loves her hints at her growing uncertainty.

• abby
• farmer
• love triangle
• bill
• emotions

The farmer's unexpected longevity frustrates Bill's inheritance scheme. The film never explains the discrepancy, it simply shows the farmer living well beyond his one-year prognosis. This delay intensifies Bill's desperation and creates the tension that drives the story toward its violent climax.

• farmer
• illness
• prognosis
• death
• timing

A locust swarm threatens the crops, so the farmer lights controlled fires to smoke them out. During this chaotic moment, he spots Bill and chases him in a rage, accidentally knocking over a lamp. The lamp ignites the dry vegetation, sparking a blaze that destroys much of the harvest. The fire becomes the catalyst for the deadly confrontation that follows.

• locusts
• fire
• harvest
• farmer
• bill
• confrontation

The next day, Bill fatally attacks the farmer with a screwdriver during a confrontation. When the farmer points a revolver at him, Bill strikes with a makeshift weapon, a screwdriver, killing the farmer. This desperate, violent act marks the story's tragic turning point, ending the farmer's life and sealing Bill's fate.

Foreshadowing: The chaotic fire and chase set the stage for the violent showdown.

• bill
• farmer
• murder
• screwdriver
• death

After Bill is killed by police during their escape, Abby decides to abandon her past life entirely. She leaves Linda at a boarding school, providing her with stability, and then departs on a train with soldiers heading to World War I. This represents Abby's choice to start a completely new life, leaving behind her troubled relationship with Bill and the farmer's tragic fate.

• abby
• linda
• boarding school
• abandonment
• new life

The farmer loses control when he sees Bill during the crisis. His anger stems from discovering Bill's true relationship with Abby and the realization that he's been deceived. The farmer's jealousy and rage explode in this moment, causing him to pursue Bill recklessly, leading to the accidental fire and setting off the chain of events that ends in murder.

Foreshadowing: The farmer has previously grown suspicious of Abby's familiar relationship with her 'brother.'

• farmer
• bill
• chase
• gun
• jealousy
• deception

Bill returns during the following year's harvest to reclaim Abby. He admits that encouraging her to marry another man was a mistake, hoping to win her back. This shows Bill's realization that his scheme backfired, he lost Abby to the very man he manipulated her into marrying. His return accelerates the story's tragic climax.

Foreshadowing: Earlier, Bill departs after realizing Abby has fallen in love with the farmer.

• bill
• return
• harvest
• abby
• confession

The foreman has suspected Abby and Bill from early on, believing they are con artists posing as siblings. Though the farmer dismissed these suspicions, the foreman's distrust never faded. When Bill, Abby, and Linda flee after the farmer's murder, the foreman aids the police in tracking them down, leading to Bill's fatal shooting.

Foreshadowing: The foreman grows suspicious early in their stay and questions the sibling act.

• foreman
• police
• betrayal
• suspicion
• bill

Linda's reflective narration frames the entire story with a moral and fatalistic lens. She recalls a religious man's warning about apocalyptic hellfire and the Last Judgment, God rescuing the good while turning away the evil. This sets a tone of impending moral reckoning, foreshadowing the tragic outcomes: the farmer's death, Bill's murder, and the characters' ultimate separation.

• linda
• voiceover
• hellfire
• last judgment
• fate
• moral

Bill accidentally kills his factory foreman during an argument in 1916. The act is portrayed as unintentional, arising from workplace tension and a sudden altercation. This tragedy forces Bill, Abby, and Linda to flee Chicago, setting the entire story in motion as they escape to the Texas Panhandle.

• bill
• foreman
• chicago
• kill
• flight
• escape

Bill and Abby pose as siblings to avoid gossip and suspicion in the small Texas farming community. Unmarried couples living together would draw attention and potentially ruin their scheme. The ruse allows them to work on the farm while maintaining the appearance of propriety, though the farmer's foreman eventually sees through the act.

• bill
• abby
• siblings
• pretend
• disguise
• texas