Paint Your Wagon

During the California Gold Rush, while digging a grave for the victim of a covered wagon accident, prospector Ben Rumson discovers gold. Vowing to share the sizable stake with the dead man's surviving brother, Pardner, Rumson founds No Name City. At an auction Rumson purchases a Mormon's spare wife, Elizabeth, whom he also shares with Pardner. To alleviate the jealousy her presence causes in the mining camp, Rumson diverts a coach of French prostitutes to No Name City, where they quickly establish a brothel. In order to conserve loose gold dust, Rumson and Pardner honeycomb the town's streets and buildings with shallow mines. The depletion of the area's gold resources coincides with the arrival of the Fentys, a respectable New England couple. Taking pity on the couple's inhibited son, Rumson introduces the youth to the pleasures of Mother's Darling Hotel, the French whorehouse. Horrified, Elizabeth ejects Rumson from their home. As a traveling evangelist prophesies the town's destruction, a raging bull butts the supports of Rumson's tunnels, causing the collapse of No Name City. Following the camp's demise Rumson leaves for new adventures, while Elizabeth and Pardner farm the land.