Premise: Soon after an inexperienced king and his queen put down a bloody rebellion, they must rally their war-weary subjects to repel an invasion by a powerful neighboring army and bring a second political wife into the royal family.
- Opening Image (1): An internal rebellion has been put down. A young Hawaiian king, PONO, and his beautiful queen, LANI, walk among the smoldering ruins of a Kona coastal village. Wounded warriors prostrate themselves before the queen.
- Set-Up (1-10): Pono has his half brother, REBEL GENERAL, who was the general of the rebel forces killed and sacrificed to his war god in an elaborate ceremony. Another of Pono’s half-brothers, KANALOA, who led the earlier rebellion, is spared because he was Lani’s co-husband and is the father of her children. Pono takes after his grandfather and has a green thumb. Pono organizes expansion of the field systems to ensure sufficient food for the kingdom’s expanding population, e.g., he orients the fields in different directions. The Kona and Kohala field systems (giant gardens) are the jewels of his kingdom. Pono and Lani discuss the possibility of Pono’s taking a second wife to assure the loyalty of the Kona chiefs. Lani knows Pono is sad that he and she have not been able to have children. He may not know he needs to have children. Lani dreams about the grandmother she and Kea share.
- Theme Stated (5): Pono’s co step fathers, HAUNA and LOLI, are introduced as mentors. Hauna is a wizard and fortune teller. The theme is presented: A successful Hawaiian king must be Machiavellian (a trickster who can deceive and manipulate) as well as ruthless. Maybe it is accompanied by: War always has unintended consequences.
- Catalyst/Inciting Incident (12): Pono’s younger half-brother, KEA, a little person, brings Pono the news of an eminent invasion due to a food shortage on Maui and the MAUI KING’s wanting to take advantage of the loss of many Hawaii warriors during the rebellion. Pono decides to visit the Maui King. They agree to keep their visit secret from their half-brother, Kanaloa.
- Debate (12-25): Pono and Kea set out to visit the Maui King in a double-hulled canoe and debate about strategy. Pono and the Maui King meet and take the measure of each other. After surfing with the Maui King, Pono pretends that Kea is in trouble for being late cooking Pono’s lunch. Pono slaps Kea and gives Maui King the impression that Kea and he are at odds and that his kingdom is still in chaos. The audience may be deceived, too. Maui King tries to hire Kea away from Pono. Kea and Maui General trade barbs. Maui General, who is a giant, berates Kea for being so short.
- Break into Two (25): On the way back to Hawaii, Pono and Kea celebrate having tricked the Maui King, they think. Pono decides to implement their plan.
- B Story (30): Pono makes arrangements to marry a daughter of a powerful Kona chief. Lani does not like the idea but realizes why it must happen. Pono weds his POLITICAL WIFE. They enter the ceremonial white tent where Pono impregnates his Political Wife. Lani gets jealous of the attention Pono is paying to his new wife.
- Fun and Games/Promise of the Premise (30-55): Pono and Kea decide to move Kona villagers away from the coast and into the upland field systems to give Maui spies the impression that the island’s population is low. Pono’s Political Wife, who lives there, explains to the villagers why it is necessary. Maui King orders his SON, who is not too bright, to reconnoiter Hawaii island coast to assess defenses. The Son visits Hawaii and notes that coastal villages are empty of people and gets the impression that the villagers were killed off during the rebellion. The Son reports back to the Maui King. Maui King’s oracle advises against invasion and is told he will be burned alive on King’s victorious return. The Maui King decides to invade, but maybe with fewer warriors that he otherwise might have employed, or maybe not. Pono and Kea are told of the decision of the Maui King and refine their plan for defending the kingdom, deciding the battle will be fought on a hill called Hoku’ula. Kea will be Pono’s general. Hauna and Loli are given instructions. Lani and Pono’s new second wife get into a dust up. Loli make defense arrangements with the leader of a village of outcasts. Kea trains his warriors. Hauna makes defense arrangements with the chiefess/goddess, WAO, who lives on the hill called Lae Lae on the route to the battlefield.
- Midpoint (55): Pono rallies his troops with a great speech (again, like in the previous film, but better). (Henry V parallel.) This is the high point.
- Bad Guys Close In (55-75): As the Maui canoes land, Hauna and Loli pretend to be supporters of the Maui King and convince him to have his warriors disassemble their canoes and take a position on the top of a hill above the Waimea plain called Hoku’ula.Kanaloa, who happens to be living in Waimea below the planned battlefield, is awaken by villagers who point out that the channel between Maui and Hawaii is black with invading canoes. He organizes a small band of villagers to sweep down to the coast and put up a delaying defense. OR he tries to make a deal with the Maui King that would put him back in power. Maybe he approaches the Maui forces under a flag of truce. Before he leaves Waimea, he sends word to Pono of the invasion. Kanaloa is captured and his eyes are burned out. He is then killed by the Maui General and sacrificed on a temple alter by the Maui King. This represents a loss of a member of the Hawaii royal family. Lani hears of her co-husband’s death and is devastated. She is consoled by Pono and Pono’s second wife. They are a family. Pono may feel ambiguous about his rival’s death. The Maui King finds himself and his vanguard in a village of outcasts that are considered unclean. The army must stop and the nobles must go through a cleansing ceremony before they can fight. His Son gets in trouble for leading the army into the village. Some of the Maui warriors are crushed by stones rolling down from Lae Lae. The stones are an alternative embodiment of the servants of Wao.
- All Is Lost (75): Maui forces interact somehow with the temple run by Pono’s mother on the route to the battlefield which is staffed by virgins. They kill her and them (Hawaii’s geneally took no prisoners). First they killed his half-brother; then they kill his Mom. It is raining, of course: blood red rain.
- Dark Night of the Soul (75-85): Pono makes a decision to fight to the death. Maui forces interact somehow with Wao’s husband, who can fly, maybe for some comic relief. Maybe Lani’s nephew (who becomes a king later) is captured but convinces his captors that the gods want them to release him.
Maui forces are in position on the top of Hoku’ula. The warriors begin to notice that all the available sling stones are made of soft pumice. They begin to grumble. Torches held by Pono’s warriors are seen by Maui forces spreading out on the Waimea plain below Hoku’ula.When the sun rises, the Maui King sees Pono’s forces arrayed before them for miles. The Maui forces are outnumbered. The Maui King turns to his son, asks him how this could happen if the coastal villages were empty, and notes that they are all going to die. - Break into Three (85): In accordance with custom, Pono approaches the Maui King under a flag of truce to negotiate the place and time of battle. It is agreed that the generals from both sides will first fight to the death, risking Kea’s life.Kea and the Maui General approach one another and fight. Kea is wounded. Just before the Maui General kills him, Kea recovers and kills the Maui General.
- Finale (85-110): The armies charge toward one another in the customary formations, with Pono and Lani leading the charge, surrounded by their closest supporters, including Hauna and Loli. Pono slices and dices. Lani is wounded. Kea breaks the backs of six Maui chiefs using a famous Hawaiian fighting (lua) move. The Maui forces are routed and run for the coast. Their canoes having been disassembled, the Maui forces are trapped on the beach and slaughtered. One of Pono’s nieces helps the Son of the Maui King to escape and return to Maui. The dead are seen marching single file to one of the leaping off places to the underworld. Pono sacrifices the Maui King to his war god. His warriors cheer.
- Final Image (110): Maybe a scene showing Pono’s and his Political Wife’s children along with Lani’s older children playing with their royal parents, as a family.