“They are the hope for what the promise of America used to be,” said Katy about the Wild Mustangs that roamed the Wyoming plains. The young 16-year-old girl had learned a lot from “Flicka,” the mare that she saved from the wild and became her guiding light. “Flicka,” the movie will debut in movie theaters on October 20, 2006 and will take you on this journey with Katy, beginning with her return home from Boarding School with failing grades, to her discovery of the 2-year-old mare, through her battles with her dad and ultimately to an understanding about herself, the mare and her family. This is an adventure the whole family can enjoy.

Katy McLaughlin was raised by her mom Nell (played by Maria Bello) and her dad Rob (Tim McGraw). She had a brother Howard (Ryan Kwanten) who unlike Katy didn’t come alive when working on the ranch. He dreamed of a more urban lifestyle for his future. Yet for Katy the ranch was everything. She was the only daughter in a long line of ranchers and she loved the horses and the Quarter Horse Ranch that her family ran.

It was early in the movie when Katy met Flicka and it was the connection they made when their eyes met that will stay with you. They were a pair who needed to learn from each other. “I see in them my own restless spirit,” said Katy about the Wild Mustangs. Flicka was a perfect example – free, wild, determined yet underneath that exterior was a loving spirit.

“When they take to the land they are pure power,” was how she described the Wild Mustangs. She names the brilliant black mare Flicka after a ranch hand translates its meaning from Swedish as a young innocent girl, a pretty girl. Katy like Flicka is also young and beautiful and they both have that same wild spirit and bold strength that her father misinterprets. Yet it is those characteristics that ultimately help them all to understand each other.

Katy fights with her dad to save Flicka from the fate of a mountain lion that she worries will kill the young horse but her dad will not hear of it. Finally, they capture and corral Flicka but Katy is told to stay away. And so the story unfolds with lots of twists and turns and lessons to be learned as Katy and her dad battle out the duplicity of their personalities.

“Try and understand what it’s like to feel responsible for something you love so much,” said her mom to Katy in an effort to help Katy identify with her dad. Secretly Katy is learning from the mare she feels responsible for and the lessons to adulthood begin.