Return to Lonesome Dove is a 1993 American four part television miniseries, written by John Wilder involving characters created in Larry McMurtry's Western novel Lonesome Dove which was broadcast by CBS and first aired on November 14–17, 1993. The story focuses on a retired Texas Ranger and his adventures driving mustangs from Texas to Montana. It was nominated for an Emmy Award, and followed by Lonesome Dove: The Series.
It is a sequel to the 1989 miniseries Lonesome Dove, but was not written by McMurtry, who instead wrote and published his own sequel novel Streets of Laredo in the same time frame. McMurtry followed Streets of Laredo with two prequels, which with Laredo were also subsequently made into TV miniseries. Many fans of the Lonesome Dove series and novels do not consider Return to Lonesome Dove nor the follow-up TV series to be canonical because of their divergence from McMurtry's storyline.
Plot
Part I - The Vision
Captain Woodrow F. Call, having just buried his friend Augustus McCrae near Lonesome Dove in Texas, plans to return to his ranch, signposted as "Hat Creek Cattle Company", in Montana. Call sends word to Newt Dobbs that he intends to meet him in Ogallala, Nebraska at the home of Clara Allen, with a herd of wild Mustangs that he hopes to drive north to interbreed.
To help drive the herd he seeks the help of former companions Gideon Walker, a San Antonio dressmaker and ex-ranger, and wrangler Isom Pickett. They are also joined by Pickett's family and his brother, Isaac. Walker also hires a group of Mexican vaqueros, who are led by a woman known as Augostina Vega, who harbors a resentment against Call for some unknown reason.
Newt, still in charge at the Montana ranch, leaves Pea Eye Parker in charge and heads off with Jasper Fant to meet Call, but while in Miles City they are involved in a bar fight that concludes with the shooting of two locals. Surrendering to the sheriff, they are helped by his neighbor, Gregor Dunnigan, and paroled into his custody as employees (Newt had previously rescued Gregor's young wife, Ferris Dunnigan, from cattle rustlers). Meanwhile, Call captures an outlaw named Cherokee Jack Jackson, but barely escapes with his life after Jack's gang rescues him.
Part II - The Forge
Call, having jumped into a river and trekked barefoot across the plains, stumbles half-dead into a Cheyenne village. The chief recognizes him as an enemy, but nevertheless honors his bravery with a horse, a rifle, and his widowed sister Many Tears. Call then heads off to meet Clara Allen, and learns of Newt's situation.
While on the trail, however, Isaac is killed by the outlaw Cherokee Jack, and is buried with a headstone dated "Gone to glory 4 August 1878". Isom has to take his place in leading the herd. When the children become sick, Augostina heads off to Fort Wallace for medicine, but is forced to shoot her army escorts when they attempt to rape her. Gideon then helps her with a fabricated alibi when an army patrol arrives to investigate.
After his return to Montana, having left his 'wife' with Clara, Call is disturbed to find Newt working for Dunnigan, believing that he is only there because of his young wife. But Newt is determined to honor his debt to Call's neighbor, and later confronts his father and tries to explain why he was unable to finish his mission. Meanwhile, back in Ogallala, lightning strikes start wildfires that destroy all of the Allen homestead.
Part III - The Legacy
Miraculously, Clara Allen, July Johnson, Clara's two daughters, Johnson's son, her ranch-hand, Cholo, and Many Tears, survive the inferno but Johnson is badly burnt. They head off to town to recover, just as Gideon and the others arrive. Through Gideon, Clara soon learns of Gus's secret daughter, Augostina, and also agrees to allow her herd to go north with Call's.
Call meets Dunnigan on the range, and comes into conflict with him and his "Montana's Cattleman's Alliance". Things come to a head when he decides to surround his property with barbed wire, and the wagons and the wire are destroyed by a group of masked men. Newt, now distanced from Call, becomes uneasy with Dunnigan because of his campaign to drive the other ranchers of the region out of business, but is reluctant to part ways because of the debt he feels he owes him. Added to this is the pressure being placed on Newt by Dunnigan who starts to treat him "like a son", and his wife, who begins showing an increased romantic interest in him.