Black Beauty (2020) Full Recap

A black horse runs along a beach at sunset. She tells us that a wise horse once told her a mustang spirit can never be broken. Over her life, that spirit has been tested a thousand times. And to understand how she survived it all, we have to go back to the very beginning to the story of a wild horse and the girl she loved.

She was born in a golden meadow out west on a bed of wild flowers into a big wild herd. The herd only respected you if you were strong and fast and didn't scare easily. Her mother called the fire inside her a mustang spirit and said it would show her the way. She also told her not to kick or bite unless she really had to and to be gentle and kind.

When she turned two, she noticed strange creatures moving onto their land. Leaving the mountains was against the rules, but she had to see where they were coming from. She found men in a truck and when they spotted her, they shouted that they had found the mustang herd. She knew right away that she had put her whole family in danger.

That night, her mother told her that when it's a horse's time to leave this earth, it gallops toward the sky as if it can fly. And when her own time came, she would always watch over her from her bed in the stars. Soon, a helicopter and men on horses drove the whole herd down the mountain and into pens. She had led them right to her family.

In the stampede, she lost her mother and she never saw her again. She was sure it was all her fault and her spirit felt shattered. Then a man came to the holding pens. His name was John Manley and he had driven all the way from New York to adopt a few mustangs. The manager warned him that the black Philly had a horrible temper, but Jon's eyes were softer than the others.

He said she was just frightened and angry, and he took her. They drove for days until they reached a ranch called Bertwick. Everyone agreed the Black Philly was gorgeous, but not exactly tame. And Jon was reminded that the rescues only had so much time there. On her first night, she missed her family, but it was quiet.

The air smelled of salt, and finally she slept. Jon and a boy tried to catch her everyday, and every day she won. Her mother wouldn't have approved, but humans had never been kind to her. So why should she be kind to them? Jon said she was just angry. Then she got two new neighbors, a fiery chestnut mare called Ginger and a funny little pony called Merryle Legs, who couldn't stop dancing.

They became friends, and she finally had a family again. Soon, a social worker drove up to John's house with a teenage girl named Joe Green. Her parents had died in a car accident and Jon was her uncle. The horse noticed something familiar about the girl. Her spirit seemed broken.

Jon tried to get her to eat, but Joe just wanted to be left alone. One day, Joe stood at the fence watching the black horse. Jon told her the horse had been taken from her herd and her whole world had been turned upside down. Joe told him to stop. She didn't want his sympathy. She was only there because the state said so, and Jon wasn't her family.

John was a horse trainer and his way was gentle. He told the people watching that it isn't about forcing a horse. Give and take. Joe was listening. At school, the other girls whispered that she lived on a horse farm and smelled. So Joe went to the paddic and talked to the black horse.

She said she'd heard the horse had lost her family, too. Nobody should try to tame her. She didn't belong there and neither did Joe. The next morning, Jon gave Joe a book his mentor had given him about how to talk to horses and he told her she could take any book from his shelf whenever she liked.

Then one evening, Joe walked right into the paddic. Jon and the boy were worried, but the horse came to her calmly. Joe looked at her and said she was beautiful. Maybe she would call her black beauty, and beauty liked the name. From that day, Beauty felt that one person in the world understood her, and she understood Joe, too.

But at home, things were still hard. Jon tried to get Joe to talk, and she shouted at him that he had never even come to see her mom. She wanted to go home, and Jon had to tell her she couldn't. That night, Joe ran out to the paddock crying. Beauty knew that look because she still had nightmares about losing her family.

She wished she could tell Joe that her parents were watching over her from their bed in the stars. So she lay down next to her and stayed with her until the sun came up. In the morning, Jon found Joe asleep next to beauty. He was scared to death and then relieved, so he grounded her and put her to work cleaning the stables with a pitchfork.

The two girls from school saw her shoveling and laughed at her. One of them said that if they can't save the horses, they turn them into glue. A minute later, that girl ended up sitting in the hay pile. Then she told Beauty that this place was the only safe place there was, and that maybe the two of them should just run away together.

Jon told Joe that wild mustang herds are usually led by a mayor. Not the biggest or the strongest, but the one with the most life experience who leads through respect. That's what Joe reminded him of. But Jon got bad news. He couldn't even lead the black horse and the ranch couldn't keep mustangs that wouldn't be gentled.

They needed the space. So Joe took a halter to Beauty. She explained that if Beauty wasn't gentled, she'd have to go somewhere else and probably not as nice. She put the halter over her own head first to show it didn't hurt. Then Beauty let her put it on, and Joe led her right past the stables while everyone watched.

After that, Joe and her uncle fought much less. They trained Beauty together. First the bridal, then horseshoes, which Beauty found ridiculous, and then the saddle. Joe asked Jon why they call it breaking a horse. "It's just a term," he said. "Maybe they should call it partnering." Then Joe found out the real plan.

"Bertwick trains must Mustangs so they can be sold." When Jon climbed on, Beauty threw him straight into the dirt. Their friendship grew like flowers in spring. Joe asked Beauty if she ever thought about her family. Joe tried not to think about hers because it hurt too much. Beauty hated seeing her sad.

When Beauty was sad, she ran, so she knelt down and offered Joe her back. Joe said she didn't know how, but she climbed on anyway, and Beauty galloped across the fields with her. They learned to ride together, and soon they were galloping along the beach as if nothing in the world could catch them. When summer ended, Joe went back to school and Beauty learned to carry others, even Jon.

A new young groom started looking after the horses, but he was always looking at his phone. He was told to keep an eye on the new fo that night. That night, a fire broke out in the barn. Beauty tried to sound a warning, but Joe was too far away to hear. Still, Joe came running. She went into the burning barn, and her calm, steady voice was the only reason Beauty could follow her out.

Because of Joe's courage, all the horses were saved. The young groom hadn't meant to hurt anyone, but his carelessness had destroyed their home. After all that damage, the owner of Bertwick, Mr. Gordon, had no space left, and all the trained horses had to be sold. Joe begged him not to sell Beauty.

She offered to buy her to work every day after school anything. Mr. Gordon made her a deal. If she could pay back what beauty had cost by the end of summer, beauty would be hers. But until then, he might lease Beauty out, and a wealthy family came looking. The daughter, Georgina, wanted Beauty the moment she saw her, and her brother George was there, too.

He was interested in Beauty and in Joe. Georgina's family bought Ginger and leased Beauty for the summer, and they agreed to pay Joe to come along as a groom. Their new home was Earl Shall, a huge estate with gleaming stables. Georgina posed for photos with her new horse, and Joe was shown to the groom's quarters.

Everything was perfect, but it felt cold. Georgina was nothing like Joe. The stable manager, Mr. York, kept telling her to go gently, but her hands were hard and her kicks were harder. Her mother wanted Beauty to look like a show horse, so she wanted her mane and tail cut, and they tied Beauty's head down with a draw rain so tight that she couldn't breathe properly.

Beauty knew that throwing Georgina off would get Joe in trouble, so she found another way to make her point, and Georgina was furious. George came by and told Joe his sister was definitely not a horsewoman. He thought Beauty was Joe's horse, and he said he would talk to York so she could look after her. But George's mother told Joe it was inappropriate and that she needed to keep her distance if she wanted to keep her place there.

Georgina dug her spurs into beauty so hard that she left wounds on her sides. When Joe found them, she ran to George. He was shocked. They don't abuse horses at their stable, he said, and he promised to talk to his family. That is not okay. Then he asked Joe to lunch. She told him about her dream.

She wanted to rescue horses like her uncle and save thousands of wild mustangs with beauty as the mascot. George said that was a much better answer than his, which was to colonize Mars, and he invited her to the family's big cross-country race that weekend. On race day, Joe came in a dress, and George rode in the men's race. His mother wasn't happy her son was spending time with the help, but his father pointed out that she didn't have money either when they got married.

Then it was Georgina's turn on Beauty. Beauty wanted to win, but Georgina pushed her too hard. One of Beauty's shoes was loose and Georgina kept forcing her on until Beauty fell at a jump. Joe ran to her. Georgina was told that Beauty had been limping since the first turn and that she had put her own life and her horses in danger.

Beauty hadn't broken a leg, but the scars would last a lifetime. When the vet offered surgery, the mother refused to spend another dollar and said to send the horse back. George stood up to her and told her that Joe was 10 times the person she was. Joe had saved over $800, almost enough to buy Beauty.

But then Jon came with terrible news. Bertwick was closing for good and every animal there would be sold. Joe told Beauty was her family and promised she would find her. Then a trailer drove Beauty away and Joe disappeared from her life. Beauty started fighting and kicking, hoping they'd send her home.

But her new owner liked the fire in her. Joe said she didn't want a 100 horses. She just wanted one, and she was going to get Beauty back no matter what. Beauty was bought by a man named Terry, who used her to search for people lost in the mountains. He was a quiet, good man. They spent 2 years doing rescues together, and Beauty learned to be selfless.

One day they found a man trapped in a flooding river with his legs stuck. Terry got him free and onto Beauty's back and Beauty galloped as hard as she ever had, outrunning the flood. But afterwards, a man at the station who knew nothing about horses left her without a blanket, soaked and freezing. By morning, she was so sick she couldn't stand.

The vet said her lungs were badly inflamed. Terry stayed with her all night. In her fever, Beauty saw Joe telling her to hold on and promising she would find her. And Beauty got up. Terry was getting older and retired. So, Beauty was sold to a farmer who had promised to take good care of her.

He lied. When things got really hard, Beauty telling her to close her eyes and dream of good things. And she dreamed of Joe far away in the city. Joe was writing to her uncle. She had worked extra shifts and saved almost enough to buy Beauty back, but she couldn't find her anywhere.

Almost 7 years had passed since they'd last seen each other. Beauty was sold to a carriage driver in New York named Jerry. His family named her Lady, and his little daughter's gentle touch reminded her of Joe. Beauty pulled Jerry's carriage through the park, and she searched every face in the crowd, sure that she would find Joe somehow.

One snowy day, she saw a horse. She knew it was ginger. Nothing but skin and bones. Now Georgina's mother had sold her without George even knowing. Beauty knew it was the last time she would ever see her friend. Then Jerry got sick and couldn't drive for the rest of the winter. They needed the money, so Beauty was rented to another stable, a dark, moldy place where she worked day and night.

Black Beauty (2020) Ending Explained

Not long after, she saw a cart go by with a covered horse on it, and she knew it was Ginger. She was at peace at last. Beauty fell in the street from exhaustion and it was in the papers. Her new owner said she was useless if she couldn't work and he called a man who could take care of her.

Beauty knew something bad was coming. When the men came for her at night, she fought them with everything she had because she was a mustang. Then police officers arrived. They had heard rumors about horses disappearing. And behind them, a young woman walked in. It was Joe. She had kept her promise.

She had found her. George and John were there, too. And Joe told Beauty that her friends were coming with them. They took Beauty home to Bertwick, which was now a sanctuary for horses, and there was merry legs with a family of his own. Now, Joe shows children how gentle Beauty is.

She saved my life, you know. A little girl asks how a horse can save a person, and Joe says she'd love to tell her. Beauty is the reason she started this place. Beauty was finally back where she belonged. And at the end, she understood why a Mustang spirit can never be broken. It's because a true Mustang never gives up on hope or on love.

And when her time came, it really did feel like flying.