[music]
[dripping]
[music]
[crying]
[screams]
[music]
[footsteps]
[door opens, closes]
Let me and the boys do that.
In my pocket. A letter. Take it.
I don't want to get blood on it.
This will take months to get there, ma'am.
We should send a wire.
- Can't send a wire. - Why not?
Because then the world will know.
We will ignore that this has happened.
Never speak of it to anyone.
Ma'am, I need to get the sheriff.
- Jacob said no sheriff. - I know what he said, but he--
No sheriff. No posse.
Ma'am, the Livestock Association meets twice a month.
When he don't show, they'd know anyway.
I'll go in his place.
Mail the letter.
[music]
Yes, ma'am.
You didn't ask how he was doing.
I figured you'd tell me if you wanted me to know.
He survived the night.
That's a start.
Now we just have to focus on the next night.
Hope's a dangerous thing, ma'am.
It tricks your mind into seeing this world
that ain't ever coming true.
It's best you say goodbye to him while you still can.
No room for miracles in your world, I see.
There's room for 'em, ma'am.
I just never seen anyone wish one up.
[music]
[door closes]
You stay here. Keep that rifle close.
Anybody ain't a friend rides up this road,
make it the last thing they ever do.
Yes, sir.
Where's the team?
Well, we turned 'em out.
Bring them back.
[music]
What's she doing?
Don't know.
Now I know what she's doing.
[clicks tongue]
[music]
How did she sleep?
Didn't move.
Roll over for me, honey.
It's was fortunate that we managed to get Dr. Miller sober,
otherwise this straight line
would have been more like a question mark.
Elizabeth: Does my mother know?
We've sent for her.
[deep exhale]
Don't like this fever. But the doctor said no aspirin.
Can I run you a bath?
I'll get some water.
No, you don't need to be carrying anything.
I got one good arm.
[music]
[snoring]
[gasps]
[music]
[ocean waves]
Why does no one speak of this Africa?
Because they don't know it exists.
And we ain't gonna tell 'em.
I much prefer it to leopards and lions.
There's leopards and lions here, too.
I want to show you something.
Is it better than this?
It's better than this.
Show me.
[music]
Don't look at me.
Look behind you.
[laughs]
Where should we live?
I don't care. You choose.
I could live here.
There will be obligatory trips to London, I'm afraid
so that my parents can properly despise you
and I can beg my father for money.
Have you ever been?
I was stationed there before I was sent to the front.
Yes, the war about nothing that cost us everything.
What did it cost you?
A brother.
What did it cost you?
Hard to define.
My soul, I think.
But I'm getting that back.
Never underestimate the healing powers
of a good ravaging.
I must warn you, sir, one can become quite addicted.
I think it best we ration your medicine.
It's for your own good, sir!
[squeals]
Hey.
They follow you?
They turned back when we got to the canyon.
Nobody else made it out?
We need to leave the state.
We're not going anywhere.
Banner, they are gonna put together a ****ing army.
Let me think!
We'll build a bigger army.
How? There's only three of us left.
What runs this state? Eh?
It's not cattle. It's not sheep.
Gold runs the state. And silver.
We don't need to build an army.
We can borrow one.
[music]
Jake Dutton is dead?
Dead, sir.
Dead how?
Does is matter how?
It matters to the law.
Law? What law? Where is the law around here?
I've never seen it.
His nephew running the ranch now?
Nephew's dead, and all.
What Dutton is running the ranch?
The women run it.
Which is to say nobody runs it.
In six months I'll run it.
And when you run it, what will you do?
I'll lease you the mineral rights, if you want them.
I want them.
Let's talk price.
We'll talk price in six months.
When you run it.
Killing a king doesn't make you a king.
It makes you an assassin.
And I never heard of an assassin running anything.
Where in Montana has the most gold,
the most silver, the most coal?
The Yellowstone.
That's what I'm offering.
[chuckles]
- It's not yours to offer. - I can own it.
Then why don't you?
I'll tell you why:
because you don't have the money to buy it
and you don't have the men to take it.
So, which do you want?
The money or the men?
I don't care which.
I'll give you the money.
You find the men.
And when you have it
I mine where I choose, and the lease already paid.
And you run your sheep where you want.
The mountains are mine.
Deal.
Shake on it.
Know this, Banner:
if you lie to me, if you steal from me,
and I won't just kill you.
I'll kill your wife.
I will skin her alive,
and I'll bury your children in her ****ing hide.
Understood.
The man needs an army. Give him the funds for it.
[clears throat]
[music]
[cattle lowing]
[whooping, whistling]
Man: Come on.
Some of these cattle have different brands.
We just taking Yellowstone cattle?
We're taking them all.
All right, then. Woop!
Where is she?
She's upstairs.
Take me to her.
Oh.
What an ordeal you've endured.
What did the doctor say about travel?
He didn't mention travel, but I would assume--
I'll send for a motor car.
We'll get you to Livingston, then on the train.
Why a train? A train to where?
Back East. To a hospital.
This is no place to recover.
This is no place to be at all.
What about the wedding?
What wedding?
My wedding.
They killed your wedding
when they killed your father, sweetheart.
If you still wish to have her hand
I suggest you pack your things.
Any reason I had for living in this godless place is dead.
No disrespect, Mrs. Strafford, but I ain't marrying you.
Jack.
[gasps]
I'll discipline my own nephew, thank you very much.
[music]
Where is my husband?
Ice house. I'll take you.
I will find my own way.
Well, it appears you have plenty to discuss.
This is your home now, if you choose it.
I choose it.
I suppose you don't have much to discuss after all.
The girl wishes to stay,
marry my nephew and start her life here.
I will not allow it.
That is not your decision to make.
I will send a car.
It will be turned away at the gate.
She is my daughter.
You have no right, you have no right to decide her fate!
That is my right and my right alone!
She is free to leave, but you are not free to take her.
This is not the Strafford Ranch,
this is the Yellowstone.
And you have no rights here.
[kisses]
And another calamity arrives.
Cattle in the east camp are gone.
Gone?
There's horse tracks leading east.
They'll take 'em to Wyoming
and have 'em on a train by nightfall.
I'm gonna need all the boys.
Jack, stop.
Stop right where you are!
They attack us on the field, now they steal our cattle?
Either we take this fight to them or it's coming to us.
I need a moment.
- We ain't got a moment. - I need a moment to think.
I think I've earned that right, don't you?
Don't move.
[heavy breathing]
What would you do?
Oh... Guide me, Mother Mary. Guide me.
Thieves have stolen the cattle, but we are weak.
We have no leader.
You be the leader.
The cattle aren't worth another life.
Can we afford to lose them?
It's only lives we can't afford to lose.
No fighting...
Until Spencer gets here.
Let the cattle go.
I had abandoned all hope for you.
Ain't gonna get rid of me that easy.
I forbid you to die.
Do you understand me?
I won't die.
- Too stubborn. - [chuckles]
Bring me Zane.
[Jack] We're getting them cattle back tonight,
do you hear me?
[Zane] We need to leave right now, man.
[Jack] We're going to. We ain't got much time.
We let the cattle go.
It's not worth the risk.
Godammit! That's half our herd!
It's not your decision to make.
He wants to speak with you.
[music]
We'll wean the calves...
sell the mamas.
Put bulls on the heifers
when they weigh seven hun...
seven hundred...
That'll take care of the bank.
This Creighton, he's gonna keep coming.
And when you don't show to the livestock conference,
they're all coming.
Send Cara.
She'll say I'm in Wyoming,
hunting thieves.
Let 'em stew on that for a while.
I'll tell her.
You send word to Spencer?
Could take a year for him to get back here, Jake.
Then a year's how long we got to hold out.
[music]
I refuse to hope.
I refuse it.
You brought him back.
I will believe in it.
I will trust it.
Zane: Mrs. Dutton?
[music]
[Elsa] There are only three answers to a prayer:
"Yes," "not yet,"
and "I have something else in mind for you."
Man's great challenge is trusting
"not yet" or "something else."
And avoiding the foolish notion of hope.
Wishing to nothing that your unanswered prayer is granted.
Hope is the surrender of authority to your fate,
and trusting it to the whims of the wind.
My family does not hope.
We fight for what we believe until we have it
or we are destroyed by the pursuit.
Gone are the days of following the buffalo across the prairie,
burning their feces for warmth and cooking.
Gone too, are winters of starvation and suffering.
Tending God's great bounty is the salvation of your people.
It is the cornerstone of independence.
You are mastering your sustenance
rather than wandering aimlessly in the hopes that you stumble upon it.
[grunts]
Heavens, girl.
The fruit will rot on the vine at this rate.
It's the thorns.
Jesus wore a crown of thorns and no complaint left his lips.
I'm not Jesus.
- [whimpers] - No, you are not.
Stop leaving the fruit in the middle.
[whipping] [groans]
In the middle.
Stop worrying about the thorns and worry about me!
Ah!
Oh!
[music]
[panting]
Your savage spirit will be the death of you, girl.
You are a savage.
Savage.
A vile reminder of how your people lived,
far from the shadow of God.
No better than the wolf pack, and like the wolf,
you must become a dog,
or you will be hunted out of existence.
I am trying to save you, child,
from that most heinous of enemies: yourself.
You are your own worst enemy.
You must be cleansed, child.
You must be bathed in the blood to be saved.
But you must want it.
You must want to be saved.
Do you want it?
I don't want anything you have.
Do you want to be saved?
No, I don't.
[screams]
[shrieks]
She has the devil in her!
[screaming]
[wood splitting]
Oh, not to worry. I have more.
[crying]
Okay. Okay. Okay...
[music]
Okay, what?
Save me.
And I saw an angel come down from Heaven...
the old serpent,
and cast him into the bottomless pit,
shut him up and set a seal upon him.
A stone was cast into the pool of fire and brimstone
where both the beast and the false prophet
shall be tormented day and night
forever and ever...
[sobbing]
Be sober and watch,
because your adversary the devil is a roaming lion...
He that hath committed sin is of the devil,
for the devil sinneth from the beginning...
[overlapping voices]
...in purify your heart
be subject therefore to God and resist the devil
and he shall fly from you.
Draw nigh to God and he shall...
[screams]
[crying]
[music]
You're leaving?
Come with me.
They'll find us.
And put us in jail.
Show me the law that says we must sign on
to be a servant or get a beating.
I'm taking your Bible.
Sister Mary will beat me silly.
No, she won't.
[music]
Where are you going?
Home.
What are you doing?
Making war.
[music]
[sighs]
[gasping]
[panting]
[labored breathing]
[mumbling]
[muffled screams]
[speaking Native language]
[music]
[speaking Native language] [sizzling]
[music]
[chattering]
Is it true?
Banner: I don't know if it's true--I'll find out.
Find out just now.
The wife is here.
Alone?
Bunch of cowboys.
But no Jake or John or the young 'un?
No.
[murmuring]
There she is.
Ma'am.
Where's Jacob?
I shall address that very thing.
Cattle thieves, that plague upon Montana's ranches
that is worse than drought or locust,
has struck our ranch as well.
So my husband has taken to Wyoming
in search of the cattle,
many of which belong to other members
of this association: you, Mr. Brewster,
you as well, Mr. Hoburn.
And you, Mr. Grant.
It also appears that these thieves are murderers,
killing Bob Strafford in cold blood.
[clamoring]
Men: Lynch 'em!
The response must be forceful,
but lawful.
One mob begets another.
It is time this agency has the authority to make arrests
and have jurisdiction over the entire state.
The power to issue warrants,
and to prosecute offenders of lease violations,
as well as the theft of livestock.
So word has been sent to the Governor.
On behalf of my husband, I will ask members
of this association to vote for the creation of a police force,
as my husband has asked the Governor
to grant the authority I have just stated.
I ask now for a vote in favor of the creation
of the police force so empowered by the state
to execute the duties listed hereof.
All in favor say "aye."
You don't have the authority
to ask for a vote before the members.
- Yeah. - That's right.
The authority is written and signed
by the Commissioner of this Association.
Can you attest to that being the signature of Jacob Dutton?
I can.
All those in favor say "aye."
Aye!
All opposed.
Nay.
Cara: The ayes have it. Proposal is approved.
Dues will increase twenty-seven dollars per annum
for officer salaries and supplies.
Meeting is adjourned, we will convene again in one month.
Nah, it's in two weeks.
One month, I say.
Meeting is adjourned.
Thank you, gentlemen.
That's not what Jake said.
I just thought of it on the way over.
Well, how did you get him to sign it?
I signed it.
[panting]
Banner: You're a liar.
You're a ****ing liar, woman.
I'll kill you where you ****ing stand.
- A liar. - Aye.
Care to prove it? Shall we go back inside...
and you can tell the sheriff the truth.
He's not in Wyoming.
He's not anywhere.
How would you know?
How would you know where he is?
No bank will let a woman carry a note.
No government will transfer a lease for her, either.
Your little charade can only last so long.
[spits]
When my charade is over, so are you.
Men kill with bullets or a noose,
which is to say men kill quick.
Your fight is with me, now.
I kill much slower.
[car honking]
You don't have the army for this fight.
Or the money.
I have both.
I can't wait for you to meet my nephew.
- [laughs] - We've met.
The boy doesn't impress.
Not that one.
[Cara clicks tongue]
[music]
They come rolled now, you know.
That's what they gave us in the war.
I won't smoke those now.
Spencer...
What are these?
Cara Dutton.
Something you forgot to tell me?
That's my aunt.
Why won't you read them?
Hard to explain.
Try.
War's not living.
War is...
If insanity was a thing you could touch, that's what war is.
A letter is a window out of that hell for a minute.
But it's a double-edged sword.
Missing home and dreaming has killed more soldiers.
You want to eat a bullet in battle,
you start wishing for a letter.
We had so many letters to dead men
we bundled them up and made furniture out of 'em.
I credit not reading 'em for keeping me alive.
Then the war's over and I got two years' worth of 'em.
Then I felt guilty.
[music]
Now I don't know what I feel. I...
I spend most of my time trying not to.
Till you.
[deep exhale]
There's something you should know about me.
I'm a very jealous lover.
I will not share you with your demons.
So we must find them...
and chase them all away.
Let's get started, shall we?
No one said demon chasing must be done sober.
Come on.
Shall we choose randomly or go in order?
I guess if we're going to do it, we should do it in order...
"My Dearest Spencer...
"News of the German Spring Offensive
"has reached our little valley in Montana,
"and the stories horrify...
"Jacob tells me the bulk of the German army
"charged your division and your company
was given the grim honor of holding the flank..."
[muted explosions]
[Cara] "I've read tales of terrible machines
"with belts for tires and canons that rotate...
[machine gun fire]
"Airplanes with bombs and guns and it robs me of sleep.
"The Brigadier General writes of your bravery.
"Of your unflinching resolve.
"I think only of the wild young man
"who would rather chase cattle than gather them.
"And race the horses until they were ruined for honest work.
"I wait desperately for that boy to return.
"And I pray you bring that beautiful smile with you.
It is my sunrise, and I miss it with all my heart."
Alex: "I cling to every memory of you,
"waiting for you to come home,
where we shall make countless more. Cara."
I'm sorry, I didn't...
This was a mistake. I'm sorry.
Keep going.
Read the next one.
Okay.
[music]
[Alex laughing]
"So, Jack said, 'Who needs a horse!'
"And he yanks his saddle from the bronc
"and marches it over to the milk cow.
"Gladys ran straight to the water trough and leapt into it,
"trapping Jack underwater until Jacob and John
"roped the beast and managed to free Jack
"from a death by cow drowning.
I can't wait to meet him.
He's a little tornado.
Runs in the family, I see.
Your father's side?
Crazy runs in both sides.
I'm double-bred, I'm afraid.
So am I.
Our children are going be absolutely mad.
We should consider adopting.
Mm. I can't wait for the next letter.
"Alas, the baby did not survive.
"Emma was shattered, but John stayed by her side
"all day until she dared to face the sun again.
"She's too old to try again.
"God wished her only one.
But what a special one he is."
"It was the worst winter since '83,
"when your parents first arrived here.
"We found a snow drift with a hundred head of cattle
frozen solid, but standing upright."
"She's a lovely girl, with giant eyes
"and hair the color of straw
"and she leads Jack around on an invisible leash.
"Watching them fawn over each other is my favorite hobby.
"I've forsaken knitting altogether,
and give it all my attention."
[sigh]
[whispers] Spencer.
What?
You need to read this.
Tomorrow.
Read it.
What does it say?
You need to read it.
You read it.
"Spencer...
"Your brother has been killed.
"By the time you receive this letter,
I suppose your uncle has been killed as well."
[sniffles]
"Your nephew has been wounded...
"This ranch and your legacy are in peril.
"War has descended upon this place and your family.
"Whatever war you fight within yourself must wait.
You must come home and fight this one."
[crying]
What's the date?
The date?
Of the letter. When was it written?
Three months ago.
[music]