The 1931 film "Cimarron" is a Western film based on the 1929 novel of the same title written by Edna Ferber. The epic story is set in the Oklahoma Territory and later State and runs from the 1889 land rush to the Depression year of 1930. The main male character, Yancey Cravat, is loosely based on Temple Houston, a son of Texas's Sam Houston. Yancey Cravat and his wife Sabra live in Wichita Kansas with their small son Yancey Jr. where they are part of the upper-class society. It is 1889 and Yancey, an attorney, is looking for something more exciting than legal work and joins the Oklahoma Land Rush where 2,000,000 acres of land was opened to settlers. Yancey is tricked out of the land and then heads for the fictional town of Osage where he takes over a newspaper. Over the years the town gets larger and so do his business interests. In 1893 he begins a practice of disappearing for several years at a time and his wife Sabra runs his newspaper and business interests. The film ends in 1930 with Sabra becoming a successful business woman and a member of Congress while raising two children to adulthood.

The film begins with a prologue:

The Oklahoma Territory land rush begins on April 22, 1889 when 2,000,000 acres are opened to white settlers where many of the residents are American Indians.

Yancey Cravat is an attorney who lives with his wife and her wealthy relatives in Wichita, Kansas. He is looking for more excitement than legal work.

Yancey and the other participants wait for the United States Army people to start.

Yancey meets a woman named Dixie Lee who tricks him out of the land plot he wanted. He then heads back to Kansas and back to his family.

Yancey tells his wife and young son that they are going to Oklahoma anyway.

Yancey heads for the town of Osage where he opens a small law office.

It is now 1890 and Osage is a "boomer" town which has quickly grown. Gambling casinos and other shady businesses have sprung up.

A Simplex cash register in a casino shows silver dollars in it's tray including a Morgan dollar in the lower left pocket. These coins would be common at the time as they were minted beginning in 1878.

Yancey takes over the local newspaper, the "Oklahoma Wigwam", after it's previous owner was killed by a gunman.

Sabra settles into life as a businessman's wife and raising their son Yancey Jr. and new daughter Donna. A church has opened in the town and a local casino owner has loaned his building for Sunday services. The "church" is open to all including a Jewish merchant and Indians. The minister has not arrived yet and Yancey is invited to conduct the service. Sabra attends and meets Mrs. Tracy Wyatt.

Mrs. Wyatt considers herself as being "society", and proudly claims to have an ancestor who signed the Declaration of Independence.

Yancey gives a short talk while a painting of a nude woman looks on. He then takes up a collection or "passes the hat."

The hat has a manufacturer's label in it which is too small to read. Stacks of coins on a table then appear on the casino roulette table.

At this point the year is 1891 or thereabouts.

A closer look at the coins on the table. The coins are silver dollars, half dollars, and a quarter. There are obverses and reverses of Morgan silver dollars and Barber and Walking Liberty half dollars. Morgan silver dollars were minted from 1878 to 1904 and again in 1921. Barber half dollars were minted from 1892 to 1915, Walking Liberty half dollars from 1916 to 1947.

The gunmen, including the murderer of the previous newspaper owner, cause a disturbance in church.

Yancey takes care of the gunmen and closes the service. He becomes a local hero and then a greater hero when he kills the leader of a local bandit gang. It is now 1893 and Sabra, who previously did not living in Oklahoma, has grown to accept her life there with her children. Yancey announces that he is going to participate in another land rush and leaves.

Yancey is gone for five years and nobody knows where but there are rumors that he has become a drunk or went to Europe. The film moves to the year 1898 and the time of the Spanish-American War.

Yancey is wearing the uniform of a United States Army sergeant of the period. Dixie Lee has become a local madam and has been arrested and Yancey becomes her defender, over the objections of his wife who doesn't want him to associate with a "woman of her kind."

Yancey gives a speech known as Temple Houston's "Soiled Dove" defense of a prostitute, which claims that such a girl is a victim of men and society and should not be punished. This results in the acquittal of Dixie Lee who then leaves town.

The film moves to 1907.

It is now 1907, Oklahoma has become a State, and oil has been discovered there causing another "rush." Some of the oil is under Indian reservations making them wealthy. Yancey is running his newspaper and has become politically liberal and a supporter of Indian rights and citizenship.

Yancey's and Sabra's children has grown to teenagers. Yancey Jr. has become engaged to an Indian chief's daughter and Donna decides to marry a wealthy man and picks out a much older local merchant, Louis Hefner.

Automobiles have come to Oklahoma. A local political boss visits Yancey and suggests that he run for governor.

Yancey turns down the offer as it would involve him in a scheme to steal money from the now oil-rich Indians. Yancey disappears again. The film moves to 1929 and Yancey is still gone.

There are rumors that Yancey rejoined the US Army and was fighting in World War I. Sabra Cravat has been managing the newspaper for many years.

A newspaper front page is shown.

Sabra has become a respected person in the state and has entered politics. She and her children attend a dinner.

Sabra is introduced.

Mrs. Cravat with radio microphones appears while her children and grandchildren are introduced.

Yancey Jr. has married the daughter of an Indian chief and has two children. Later, in town, there is an oil-drilling accident.

An oil worker tells a crowd that a man working on drilling was seriously injured when he shielded other workers from a nitroglycerine blast and saving their lives. Someone mentions that the dying man was called "Old Yance" and Sabra hurries to the scene.

Yancey says goodbye to the love of his life. Later Sabra helps dedicate a statue with a plaque reading: "To Commemorate The Oklahoma Pioneer A.D. 1930."

The figure is modeled after Yancey Cravat.

Richard Dix as Yancey Cravat
Irene Dunne as Sabra Cravat
Estelle Taylor as Dixie Lee
George E. Stone as Sol Levy
Robert McWade as Louis Hefner
Director: Wesley Ruggles
Writers: Howard Estabrook, Louis Sarecky, Edna Ferber (novel)