The movie features an ensemble cast including Ruben Blades, Richard Bradford, Sônia Braga, Julie Carmen, James Gammon, Melanie Griffith, John Heard, Carlos Riquelme, Daniel Stern, Chick Vennera, and Christopher Walken.

Ladd Devine, a real estate mogul, has plans to build a grand vacation retreat in the area, potentially the largest in the state.

News of his actions spreads quickly, catching the attention of Ruby Archuleta, who runs a gas station and repair shop.

Meanwhile, sociologist Herbie Platt arrives from the East Coast to study local customs but faces mixed reactions from the residents.

Mayor Sammy Cantu remains distant, and Mondragon reluctantly agrees to host Platt in exchange for assistance in the fields.

Some locals responded favorably, but many objected to the idea of big business changing the small community, which forced Redford to film the movie in Truchas.

Vincent Canby, film critic for The New York Times, believes the film missed its mark, and wrote, "The screenplay, by David Ward and John Nichols, based on Mr. Nichols's novel, is jammed with underdeveloped, would-be colorful characters, including a philosophical Chicano angel, who face a succession of fearful confrontations with the law that come to nothing.

There’s an enchantment to the film – at times it is a more successful version of the folklore fable that Francis Ford Coppola's Finian's Rainbow (1968) tried to be but failed."

The consensus states: "Arguably Robert Redford's most inchoate work, The Milagro Beanfield War has plenty of beautiful moments, but they don't quite add up to a worthwhile whole.