Lone Star Episode 1.01 Pilot

A man pounds on a door, yelling about a scam involving John, who orders his young son Bobby to grab his suitcase. He helps him out the nearest window and hands him the car keys so they can make a quick getaway.

Twenty years later . . . Bob Allen packs a suitcase, tells a young blonde woman named Lindsay that he'll return in four days. Before he leaves, she gives him a small plastic gorilla that he attaches to his keychain.

After Bob persuades several people to invest in a new (bogus) method for natural gas extraction, he arrives in Houston, where he stashes one cell phone in a suitcase, extracts another, and walks into the mansion he shares with his wife, Cat. He tells her to cancel everything, and they head upstairs.

Cat and Bob are awakened by a call from her oil tycoon father, Clint Thatcher, who demands that they attend a brunch with his sons, Drew and Trammell. Impressed by Bob's sales successes, Clint says that he wants him to make their ailing firm more profitable and offers a huge promotion. Bob wants to think about it.

Bob visits his con-man father, John, who's thrilled that Bob has gained Clint's confidence, because he aims to strip all the cash out of the company. But Bob says that he wants to play it straight, citing his love for Cat. John says that she's just a mark, while he's family - and now Bob needs to deal with the man who wants to see the oil well that he's invested in.

Bob tells Cat that he'll take the job, then goes to a random oil rig. Pretending to be a film location scout, Bob slips the rig's foreman some cash to turn his head when he and John bring that curious investor out for a look-see. After the investor checks out the rig, Bob offers him a suitcase full of cash to get out of the deal, but he declines - and triples his investment. John is impressed.

Bob is drinking in a hotel lobby when a stunning brunette all but throws herself at him. He refuses, citing two (unsaid) reasons. After stopping at a jewelry store, Bob returns to Lindsay's house in Midland, Texas, for a backyard barbecue.

Meanwhile, Trammell - seriously unhappy about Bob's promotion -vows to undermine him, and Drew agrees to go along with this.

After Lindsay's parents thank Bob for all the money they've made from investing with him, Lindsay's former boyfriend Travis arrives, claiming they've been intimate during Bob's frequent absences - and Bob decks him.

Later that night, as Bob steps outside to get the jewelry he bought for Lindsay, John shows up, says another investor's attorney wants to see the deed to the oil well Bob sold him, which Bob never actually owned. John says he son should get out of Midland before everyone learns they've been scammed. Bob refuses to leave.

The next morning, Bob tells Lindsay that there's a problem with the wells, so he'll be gone for a while. She's OK with that. He pulls into a gas station/convenience store, watches the clerk's father brazenly steal merchandise, and he covers the loss, saying, "I know what it's like." Bob takes out his frustrations on his steering wheel, then tosses a cell phone - plus the jewelry he intended for Lindsay - into a trash can.

Once Bob returns to Houston, Clint whisks him into his new office where there's a desk covered in a mountain of paperwork. Bob unearths a wind farm proposal that Drew previously championed but was shot down. He calls Drew in, tells him it's a great idea, and says he wants him to lead the effort. Drew is more than surprised; he's flattered.

Bob meets John in a diner and says that he wants no more part of their scams, because he wants to do something real. He offers John several million dollars as well as a fake job on Clint's company's payroll. John reluctantly agrees to let Bob play it straight.

Later that evening, at a party for oil business heavyweights, Trammell attempts to bust Bob over discrepancies in his posh hotel bills. Bob wiggles off the hook by confessing that he faked those stays to save the company's money.

Clint interrupts the interrogation, boasting that he's never been scammed - which he crowns with false sorrow over his brother Roy's demise - adding that if Bob's in trouble, he'll be the first to know. He asks for Bob's keys (we see the gorilla attached) and says the key to his new office can open even bigger doors.

Afterward, Bob explains his visible emotional turmoil to Cat by claiming that he isn't sure he can do the job. Cat says that she knows he can because he makes his own luck, which is why she married him.

The next day, Bob buys something from the jewelry store, then circles a tract on a map of the Midland area. He tells Drew that he's found a place to set up the first wind farm, then he tells John this purchase will provide him cover.

John asks why Bob will be stealing from his real job to pay debts from his fake job. Because I'm in love, Bob answers. With your fake wife or your fake girlfriend?, John asks. Both, says his son.

John then asks if Bob's going to marry Lindsay. Next thing we see is Bob watching Lindsay trying on a bridal dress . . . and that new jewelry box contains a ring.