Set in 1854 on the harsh Nebraska frontier, low-life drifter George Briggs (Jones) is rescued by a pious, independent-minded woman named Mary Bee Cuddy (Swank). To pay back his debt, George reluctantly agrees to help Mary transport three women driven mad by the harsh frontier life across the treacherous land where a kindly minister s wife (Streep) has offered them hospice. The unlikely pair soon realizes just how daunting the journey will be as the group traverses the vast Nebraska Territories, marked by stark beauty, psychological peril and constant danger.
