The American director John Sayles' film "Lone Star" (1996) is set in a kind of ghost town. However, the Texas border down is not a ghost town in the traditional Old West sense of an empty place, rather it is a place that is, if anything, too densely populated-with memories of the past. The dominant theme of "Lone Star" is the persistence of history. The film suggests that no one can escape his or her past crimes or the history of the town where he or she lives. .

             The hero of the drama is a sheriff who is sworn as a protector of the law and to let no crime go unpunished. The film revolves around Sheriff Sam Deeds' attempt to solve a forty-year-old homicide. Sam Deeds was born the son of a sheriff, and the town is haunted by the memory of the corrupt law official his father replaced. However, although Sam respects his dead father, he also fears that his father may have been the murderer of the corpse whose death he must investigate. .

             Sam's father was the deputy of Charlie Wade, and Wade was hated and feared by almost everyone in the town. Wade left the town without a trace, another mystery, and Deeds took his place. Wade's disappearance has remained a mystery, but the corpse of the long-dead man wears Wade's old ring and was found buried next to the old sheriff's badge. Even though Sam feels he must see justice done and investigate the old crime, he must also confront the fact that Wade's death may have been a blessing, even if it was a murder, and murder is against law. Wade was not simply a bad sheriff. He was especially cruel to the Native Americans and African Americans of the town, whom in the 1950s could be discriminated against with virtual impunity. .

             The presence of racial diversity in modern Texas is another reminder of the state's inability to escape history, just as the current sheriff cannot escape the history of his father or of the town. History can be unjust, true. So can the law, as well the Native and Latino Americans of Texas know.