The Legend of Zorro

In 1850, California votes on whether to join the United States. Zorro, formerly Alejandro Murrieta, now known to the public as Don Alejandro De La Vega, foils a plot to steal the ballots. During the fight with a gunman named Jacob McGivens, he loses his mask, and two Pinkerton agents see his face. Alejandro's marriage with his wife, Elena, becomes strained after he refuses to stop being Zorro when the election ends. The couple argue, and Alejandro moves out. Three months have passed and Alejandro feels demoralized by the people's separation from Zorro, while his son, Joaquin, is causing trouble at school with his teacher. Father Felipe takes him to a party at French Count Armand's vineyard, where he learns Elena is dating Armand, an old friend from Spain. Drunk and angry, Alejandro causes a scene and leaves the party. He later witnesses, in his drunken state, an explosion near the vineyard, raising his suspicions about Armand. The next day, McGivens attacks Guillermo, Alejandro's farmer friend, to seize the deed to his land. Zorro saves Guillermo's wife and son, but Guillermo is killed. While at Armand's mansion for a date, Elena surreptitiously investigates his secret study, discovering information about a plot involving explosives and a group called Orbis Unum (One Globe in Latin). Zorro sneaks into the mansion and overhears Armand discussing his plan to build a railroad through Cortez's land with McGivens. The next day, Alejandro's son, Joaquin, sneaks out of a class field trip and hides on McGivens's cart. McGivens's bandits catch Joaquin as they receive a cargo shipment in a cove. Zorro saves Joaquin from the bandits and sees that the cargo consists of bars of soap, with the phrase Orbis Unum printed on the crates. Father Felipe tells Alejandro it is the symbol of the Knights of Aragon, a secret society that Armand is a member of, which has secretly ruled Europe for millennia. The Knights have deemed the United States a threat and plan to destroy it. The Pinkertons capture and imprison Alejandro. They reveal that they confronted Elena with knowledge of his identity as Zorro, and blackmailed her into divorcing Alejandro and seducing Armand to learn of the Knights' plans without Zorro's aid. At Armand's mansion, Zorro finds Elena. They spy on Armand as he gives a speech to the Knights, revealing the soap bars contain glycerol to make nitroglycerin weapons. He even tested the weapon on a Knight who was preparing to walk away. The vineyard is a cover for the production, which will be given to the Confederate army under Colonel R.S. Beauregard, to launch a sneak attack on Washington, D.C., and destroy the Union. Zorro and Elena reconcile while he prepares to destroy the train carrying the explosives. McGivens arrives at Felipe's church to look for Zorro. Unable to find him, he shoots Felipe and kidnaps Joaquin. Armand discovers Elena's deception and takes her hostage with Joaquin after sending his valet Ferroq to kill the Pinkertons and her carrier pigeon. Zorro is captured after disabling an explosive under the train and is unmasked in front of his son. Armand takes Joaquin and Elena away on the train and orders McGivens to kill Alejandro. Felipe, saved from the bullet by the cross he wears, rescues Alejandro, who kills McGivens by trapping him on a pulley in which a single drop of nitroglycerin hit his head, torching him. Zorro catches up to the train, fights Armand, and Elena helps Joaquin escape. She fights Ferroq, throws him from the train with nitro in his suit, and in front of a checkpoint where Colonel Beauregard and his men are waiting, killing them all but inadvertently causing the train to change tracks. Joaquin rides Zorro's horse, Tornado, off the train and diverts it away from the Governor’s signing ceremony further down the track. After a tense battle Zorro overpowers Armand, ties him to the engine and escapes with Elena just before the train derails from the unfinished tracks, igniting the nitroglycerin and killing Armand. The governor signs the bill, making California the 31st U.S. state. Alejandro remarries Elena and apologizes to Joaquin for his secrecy, recognizing Zorro's identity should be a family secret. With Elena's support, Zorro rides off on Tornado to his next mission.