She lives in a farm and her aspiration to become a movie star She has hidden psychopathic tendencies and all she wants to be is a film star. No matter what. She has a thick high pitched raspy Texan accent. In 1918 during the influenza pandemic, Pearl is a young woman living with her German immigrant parents on their Texas homestead while her husband, Howard, is serving in World War I. Pearl's father is infirm and paralyzed, and her domineering mother, Ruth, insists that she help care for him. 