The Wilgus Stories

Adapted from Gurney Norman's novel Kinfolks, The Wilgus Stories dramatizes three rites of passage in the life of Wilgus Collier, a coalminer's son in Appalachia. In Fat Monroe, starring Ned Beatty, nine-year-old Wilgus holds his own against the good-natured teasing of his father's crony. In Night Ride, an adult again perplexes Wilgus, now age 14. In the dark, on a wasteland of burning mine tailings, wild Uncle Delmer offers Wilgus memories of his dead father and the mysteries of the universe. In Maxine, set in 1970, 23-year-old Wilgus packs up his VW for California and graduate school. Before he sets off, he comes to the aid of his distraught friend Maxine, a single mother who, for the first time, is able to depend on Wilgus.