Question: Build a movie plot around this: Who exposes Montrose's plan to frame the Duke of Argyll? Mary
Answer:
In Scotland, 1713, Robert Roy MacGregor (Liam Neeson) is the Chief of Clan MacGregor. Providing the Lowland gentry with protection against cattle rustling, he barely manages to feed his people. Hoping to alleviate their poverty, MacGregor borrows 1,000 from James Graham, Marquess of Montrose (John Hurt) in order to trade cattle.Impoverished London aristocrat Archibald Cunningham (Tim Roth) has been sent to stay with Montrose, who it is implied is related to him, as his debaucheries have become a problem back in England. Cunningham learns about MacGregor's loan from Montrose's factor, Killearn (Brian Cox) and murders MacGregor's retainer Alan MacDonald (Eric Stoltz) to steal the money. MacGregor requests time from Montrose to find MacDonald and the money. Montrose offers to waive the debt if MacGregor will testify falsely that Montrose's rival John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll (Andrew Keir) is a Jacobite. MacGregor refuses and Montrose vows to imprison him in the tolbooth until the debt is repaid, but MacGregor flees, briefly taking Cunningham hostage. Montrose decides to seize MacGregor's land to cover the debt, declaring him an outlaw and orders Cunningham to bring him in "broken, but not dead". With MacGregor in hiding, redcoats slaughter MacGregor's cattle, burn his croft, and Cunningham brutally rapes his wife Mary (Jessica Lange). Mary understands that Cunningham's intent is to flush her husband out of hiding and makes his brother Alasdair, who arrives too late to save her, swear to conceal knowledge of the incident from him. Unaware of the assault on his wife, but the damage to his property being all too evident, MacGregor refuses to permit his outraged clan to wage war on Montrose. Instead, he decrees, "The tenderest part of the Marquess is his purse. We'll hurt him there. Thieve his cattle, steal his rents."It transpires that Betty (Vicki Masson), a maidservant at Montrose's estate, has become pregnant with Cunningham's child. When Killearn tells Montrose, Betty is dismissed from service and...