1988 Old West
Miss Ginny's Old West
The Old West — 1988
After Clint was blinded by a gunshot wound, the Buchanan family traveled to their ranch in Arizona, where Clint struggled to adjust to life without his sight. Determined to remain independent, he continued riding. During a ride through the desert, Clint was thrown from his horse and struck his head.
When Clint regained consciousness, his sight had mysteriously returned—but he soon discovered that he had somehow traveled one hundred years into the past, to Buchanan City in 1888.
The town was filled with people who bore remarkable resemblances to people Clint knew in his own time. Buck Buchanan looked like Asa, while Cody Vasquez resembled Cord. Most startling of all was Virginia “Ginny” Fletcher, the town’s proper schoolteacher, who looked exactly like Viki and was one of her ancestors.
Clint soon learned that his journey into the past had a purpose. Guided by the mysterious Clear Eyes, he became involved in a bitter feud between the Buchanan and McGillis families and worked to bring the two families together. But Clint had another, far more personal task ahead of him.
Ginny had been in love with Randolph Lord, but the two had become separated. Clear Eyes told Clint that he had to find Randolph and reunite him with Ginny. If Ginny and Randolph did not come together, the family line would be changed—and Viki would never be born.
Meanwhile, in 1988, Clint’s disappearance left his family fearing that he was dead. His horse, cane and glasses were discovered abandoned in the desert, and after an extensive search the Buchanans began mourning him. Viki, however, could not accept that Clint was gone and remained convinced that somehow he was still alive.
Back in Buchanan City, Clint searched for a way home. As the weeks passed, he began to believe that he might never return to Viki or his own time. He and Ginny grew increasingly close, eventually fell in love and decided to marry.
Viki’s determination to find Clint ultimately led her into the Arizona desert. There she passed through the same mysterious passage in time and found herself in Buchanan City in 1888—just as Clint was preparing to marry Ginny.
Viki’s arrival stopped the wedding and reunited her with Clint. Although confronted with the extraordinary sight of a woman who looked exactly like her, Viki eventually became friends with Ginny. But before Viki and Clint could return home, history still had to be put right. Together they helped reunite Ginny with Randolph Lord, allowing the family history leading to Viki to unfold as it was meant to.
After an emotional goodbye to Ginny, Viki and Clint rode into the desert searching for their way back to 1988. Clear Eyes appeared once more and warned them to hold tightly to one another so that they would make the journey together.
Viki and Clint were eventually found unconscious in the Arizona desert and rushed to the hospital. Clint’s eyesight remained restored, but the extraordinary adventure left them wondering exactly what had happened. Had they really spent weeks in Buchanan City in 1888—or had it all somehow been a fantastic dream?
The story left one tantalizing clue. After their return, Clint encountered a nurse named Brenda McGillis who bore an uncanny resemblance to someone from Buchanan City, leaving both Viki and Clint—and the audience—with one final reason to wonder.
Erika Remembers Miss Ginny
The Old West remained one of Erika’s favorite One Life to Live stories, and Miss Ginny became her favorite character. Erika especially enjoyed being able to develop Ginny from the beginning and give her a personality distinct from Viki.
She also remembered the location filming in Arizona with great affection. It was her first experience seeing the desert in daylight, and she recalled being stunned by its beauty as the cast traveled to Old Tucson early in the morning. For Erika, Miss Ginny and the beauty of the desert became inseparable memories of the storyline.
