A woman named Beth Easton narrates her time in the Pacific northwest during the early summer of 1980, when she was a teenager. She and her widowed mom have left Los Angeles and moved to Wheaton, Washington, which is rustic. Beth misses the city, though.

Her mother encourages her to explore the area. She gets a first glimpse of this girl, Jody Salerno, who is a tomboy and a tough fighter.

Sometime later, Beth is riding her bike—only to accidentally go down a hill and lose control. She sees Jody and tells her to move out of the way. The two land in a pond.

Jody gets annoyed at Beth, who tries to convince her that it was an accident. Beth also meets a neighbor and two girls around her age, Tracy and Samantha. Samantha and Tracy say that Jody is bad news.

Not long after, Jody hides behind a bush and throws cherries at everyone. She and Beth don’t exactly get along. Beth is also thought to be a troublemaker, according to Tracy and Samantha.

The next morning, Beth waits by a school for Jody, who told her she’d meet her there. But she never shows up. A sheriff comes and is willing to take Beth to Jody’s house—except that no one is home.

Later Beth gives Jody a hard time about that. The two continue to bicker.

However, they eventually decide to go on a quest to Bear Mountain. Beth tells her mom that she is going out. Her mother lets her leave but tells her to be back by evening.

Beth and Jodie walk through the woods. After playing a bear sound effect, which scares Beth, Jody tells her about the historic legend of Molly Morgan. She was on the run and escaped from trouble. She wanted to be a miner, except that girls weren’t allowed to partake in that. So, she cut her hair and disguised herself as a boy with a different name. Then she journeyed to Bear Mountain for gold.

But no one ever looks for gold because they think it’s a rumor and not true. But Jody is confident that there is gold.

She and Beth take a stolen boat up the mountain and into the cave. While there, Jody reveals some details about her family. Her mom is abused by her boyfriend, which is why she acts troubled. Of course, this angers Beth.

However, Beth gets crushed by a rock and can’t move. Jody rushes out to find help.

Later some paramedics come and rescue Beth. At the hospital, Beth sees Jody and gives her a hug. But Beth’s mother considers Jody a bad influence on her.

On the way home, Beth’s mom breaks down crying over what happened to Beth. Beth tries to tell her that Jody isn’t a bad person. But her mother refuses to believe that.

Jody gets in trouble with her mom and mom’s boyfriend, Ray. But she sneaks out to see Beth.

Unfortunately, Beth and her mom find Jody’s mother unconscious. They begin to suspect that Ray has hurt her.

What will happen next?

Although the premise of the movie was interesting, I will admit that the first several minutes had too much setup. Yes, it was important for the viewer to know how Beth met Jody. But I wish it was tightened a bit.

There was also not much conflict until close to the midpoint. That made the first several minutes kind of boring.

On the bright side, the tension levels increased from that point on. I would constantly worry about what was going to happen next.

Jody was a gray character for me due to her flaws. But she was mostly likable. Even though I didn’t agree with her decisions at times, I did feel bad for her.

Beth was enjoyable, as well. I admired how she was determined to help Jody, even when others were against it.

Her relationship with her mom was also sweet for the most part. I did find it strange that they shared a bed, though.

The friendship between Jody and Beth was fun, nice, and filled with adventures. I loved seeing how they spent a lot of time together and admired each other.

The backstory about Molly Morgan was creative. I appreciated her desire to go into mining by “becoming a boy.” It is true that females didn’t have rights hundreds of years ago.

Like with any good movie, this one had a lot of twists and turns. See it to find out what they are.

Overall, I enjoyed Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain. It was a good watch with memorable characters and adventures.

Despite the number of flaws, the strengths dominated the film.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars.