Most of the film was an origin-story flashback, after an opening action sequence on the Cross-Town Expressway in NYC...The minute I seen you arrive in town, I knew you was a man to be reckoned with." McCabe didn't want o be flattered: "Sheehan, that's a lot of s--t, and you know it.Now, why don't you tell me what the hell it is you came up here for." Sheehan offered his idea for a partnership:Sheehan: Now, listen, McCabe.I'm no dummy.You're no dummy.You know what's gonna happen to this town when it gets big enough to have three saloons, maybe even four, hmm? You and me could form a partnership.This great, sensitively-directed, sophisticated film with exceptional acting, and faithful to the source material, has often been overlooked as one of the best films of the 1930s, and one of filmdom's greatest love stories.The noblewoman is very brittle, self-absorbed and vain - illustrated by how she looks at herself in a hand-held mirror and talks to herself:It's really a wretched morning, wretched.