and his daughter ran away because?

Alex ran off crying after she found out her dad, George Billings (John Denver), didn't go to Georgetown for just a vacation, and to help buffer the one year anniversary of her mother's (and George Billing's wife) death, but for the dirty deeds of his New York City boss, Thomas Renfield (Edward Winter). Renfield and his investor group in New York City had previously accomplished goals of taking over small towns with megaplexes of condos and retail outlets, forever transforming the character of the locality. At the Georgetown citizen meeting, it was discovered by Alex that her father scouted the ranch Renfield just bought on this so-called vacation to Colorado, that was disguised to Alex as a retreat vacation for healing the memory of her lost mother. This ranch property was owned by Jake Richards, the father of Alex's new Friend Scruff, and now swiped by Renfield. Alex was upset to find out her vacation was really a business trip, and felt her dad both lied and betrayed her and her new friends. Alex felt that her father: Betrayed her lost mother by turning a memorial trip into a business trip, betrayed the citizens of Georgetown by selling off the future of the town to Renfield. Of course George Billings (Denver) also betrayed Jake Richards (Kurtwood Smith) and Jake's son Scruff, which was also now Alex's new friend, as the Richard's property was now Ground Zero for the future transformation of Georgetown. Jake's son Scruff previously befriended Alex, and showed Alex a hideout in the woods of an old mining cabin outside of Georgetown Thus Alex ran off in a snowstorm to Scruff's hideout, crying and upset, based on the complexities of this perceived betrayal by her father.