The Cleft Rock
Description:... The Dodd family, rich and powerful because of its extensive land holdings in the Central Valley, faces an unexpected crisis in the early 1920s. The youngest son, Edward, has returned from a short stint as a business agent in China with a young Russian wife, Katya. Neither Edward's domineering father, Jeremy, nor his manipulative mother, Beatrice, wants the family sullied by an association with a refugee of uncertain background. They demand a divorce. The young couple seeks refuge with Edward's grandmother, who lives near Fresno. But the move proves temporary, since it derails Edward's hope for a legal career. Edward finally returns to the Bay Area and agrees to divorce Katya, unaware that she is pregnant. The two then lead separate lives -- one in statewide politics, the other in small-scale ranching. In completely different ways, both eventually confront water distribution issues raised by the Central Valley Project.
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