Frannie Goldsmith

If I had to use one word to describe Frannie, it'd be stoic. She's survivor, a fighter, but not the badass Ripley or a Terminator 2 Sarah Connor type at all. She watched her father die day by day, then sewed him into a burial shroud and buried him herself, right in his flower garden. She did this with grim determination, but she cried unapologetically during it. Even devastated to the point of shock over his death, she did what needed to be done for her father so he could rest.

Her stoicism wasn't borne of the plague, however. Pre-plague Frannie found herself pregnant and unmarried at 21 (in a time when such a thing was maybe not scandalous but definitely not openly accepted) and set to have and raise the baby on her own. She couldn't see herself tied to Jesse, someone she considered weak and not apt "to do right by her." So rather than any other course open to her, and in light of her mother's reaction and subsequent alienation, Frannie chose to keep her baby and do it alone.

She doesn't let fear rule her - she's afraid, but she knuckles down and handles it rather than giving into it and giving it power. She's also not afraid to speak her mind when something goes against her moral code; at the same time, she's not implacable about it. While part of the committee tasked with overseeing the establishment of a survivors community in Boulder, two controversial votes come before them. One to send a mildly retarded man into the realm of their adversary as a spy, the other to appoint her common law husband as Marshal for the community. Initially against the first, she votes no but through the debate that rages during the voting process, changes her vote to present a united decision. For the second issue, she votes no and isn't swayed to change.

These two scenes reveal so much about Frannie. Her strength and tenacity, for sure, but also her softer side. She's not gentle when she states her case for not sending Tom to the desert. When she recognizes the pain her words have caused and tries to offer comfort to Nick when she changes her vote to stand united. She's got so many facets to her; the best of those being that she's not afraid to be exactly who she is, and state it loudly, even if it flies in the face of what's politically correct or expected.

Frances Goldsmith was born very late in life to Peter and Carla Goldsmith. She had a brother, Fred, nine years older than her, but he was killed by a drunk driver when she was four years old. Carla Goldsmith shut down emotionally when her son was killed, leaving Fran to be raised mostly by her father. Her mother's place in her life was mostly one of disapproval and reproach; her father was warmth, love, and fun times in the garage helping him with car repairs or gardening. When the superflu came to New England, it found 21-year-old Frannie pregnant out of wedlock (and out of love with the father of her child.) In the midst of struggling through the repercussions of her situation, her mother became ill, then her father, then the rest of the town. One by one, she watched all of them die.

When the super flu burned itself out, Frannie was alone in Ogunquit save one other, the little brother of her best friend whom, she knew, had harbored a crush on her for years. In their search for others, Frannie and Harold found Stu Redman and Glen Batemen. The four began to make their way west to Boulder, Colorado - a place their dreams tell them other immunes congregating. As they traveled, the initial attraction between Fran and Stu blossomed and they became lovers. Their romance had a dark cloud hovering just over their heads as Harold watched them from afar and plotted revenge.

Life in Boulder was as close to normal as anyone could find in a post-apocalyptic America. Frannie was, along with Stu, one of seven Free Zone Committee members tasked with the non-insurmountable task of serving as governing board for the Boulder residents. Their other purpose, and one kept from most of the town's growing population, was to discuss and plan how to deal with the Dark Man, the source of their collective nightmares in the weeks following the epidemic that killed over 99% of the population. Their ally in the fight, Mother Abigail, walked off into the wilderness just as the Boulder residents were settling in to that something-close-to-normal life.

In the midst of coping with this latest crisis, tragedy struck. Harold, fueled by jealousy and aided by the Dark Man's to-be bride, set an explosive charge in the house where the committee would be meeting that night. The explosion left two of Frannie's dearest friends dead, several more injured, and she herself with whiplash after being thrown several feet into the air from the blast. Still healing from that injury, Mother Abigail (returned to Boulder the night of the explosion) called the remaining committee members to her deathbed and sent four of them into the desert to destroy the Dark Man. Stu was one of those sent and Frannie handled the news as she had everything else up to then. Anger, tears, cursing God, but in the end, she made her peace with it and said goodbye to Stu, making him pledge on a bloodstain to return to her.