(Based Upon the Novel by Marguerite Noble) Filaree tells the true story of Melissa Baker's life spanning sixty years that shows while men may have conquered the West, it was the women who tamed it.

SYNOPSIS:

Based on the novel by Marguerite Noble, FILAREE depicts the true events in the life of Melissa Baker, the author's mother.

The story opens in 1910 in the Arizona Territory as Melissa (31) crosses the desert in a horse-drawn wagon, accompanied by her husband, Ben Baker (49), on her way to have her eighth child.

Melissa is trapped in a loveless marriage. For the past sixteen years her life has been measured by one harsh sacrifice after another. The newest addition to the Baker family doesn't change things.

Coping with Ben's drinking and unwanted sexual advances only add to her misery. Ben Baker is totally inept as a husband and father, which means Melissa essentially raises her kids on her own.

Ben's shortcomings make it next to impossible for Melissa to provide a home for her children, and seeing to it her sons and daughters receive the proper education she never enjoyed.

Precious moments in Melissa's life are few and far between. Besides her children, Melissa has her mother and father, as well as Shug and Jimso, her younger sister and brother. Time spent with her family members is limited, though, because Ben only allows Melissa to associate with them when he isn't around.

A spark of love ignites Melissa's heart when local ranch foreman, Ike Talbot, professes his feelings for her. Melissa feels likewise, but running away with him would mean deserting her children, something she could never do.

When Ike is forced to flee the Territory after killing a man in self-defense, Melissa watches helplessly as the man she loves rides out of her life forever.

Not long afterward, an accident claims the life of one of her sons and Ben abandons the family in the middle of the night. Truly on her own now, Melissa's fierce determination to preserve her family becomes a decades-long struggle to triumph against formidable odds.

It has been said the West was hard on horses and hell on women. One reviewer wrote of the novel FILAREE that "while men may have conquered the West, it was the women who tamed it."

FILAREE dramatically illustrates the accuracy of this observation by bringing Melissa Baker's remarkable true story to life.