The Californians is a 2005 American independent drama film starring Noah Wyle. It is a modern-day adaptation of the 1886 Henry James novel The Bostonians, with the location moved from Boston to Marin County, California, and with the political topic driving the plot changed from feminism to environmentalism. The Californians is the second film adaptation of The Bostonians, after the 1984 film The Bostonians.

Plot

Gavin Ransom (Noah Wyle) is a successful real estate developer who has made a tidy fortune putting up gated communities filled with expensive suburban homes all over California. Ransom intends to put up another such development in the as-yet-untouched hillsides of Northern California's Marin County, and, just as he's expected, a number of folks living nearby are objecting to the project, including his sister Olive (Illeana Douglas), an environmental activist who has sided with longtime resident Eileen Boatwright (Cloris Leachman) and progressive lawyer Sybil (Jane Lynch) against the development.