A young boy in 20th-century Illinois observes a woman from afar as she escapes an abusive relationship, gets married, and finds her calling.

A young woman travels out to rural Nebraska to be a schoolteacher and she becomes mesmerized by the beauty of the landscape. Her connection with the land piques the curiosity of a prudent domestic wife.

A middle-aged man and his wife struggle to fight the cold, care for their kids, and maintain their marriage as they build a house on a ranch in Washington state during several years filled with set backs and heartache.

In a small rural farm town, a middle-aged poet struggles with aging and finding meaning in his life.

A boy learns from his father’s best friend the history of his family and the value of man’s relationship with nature, but is interrupted by his father’s death and his mother’s sudden arrival.

As the era of American farming comes to an end, it proves more difficult than expected for one young man to convince an old woman that she should leave the land for more fruitful prospects.

Amidst the Wyoming dust bowl and Great Depression, the son of an overprotective mother leaves to explore the world. However, when he returns injured and scarred, rumors spread that end in tragedy for the boy.

Willie Proudfit sits on his front porch one night and reminisces on his time living a wild and rowdy life out West on the plains, side by side with Native people. After a near-death experience, he comes to recognize the importance of settling down in a place you can call home, with the people you love.

Reeling from the death of her first husband, a woman living alone on a Montana homestead finds peace as she slowly falls in love with the logger living next door.

On the Great Plains, an aging farmer and his wife struggle to sell their produce amid an increase in frozen food manufacturing. The farmer must figure out how to avoid the fate of his neighbors, who were pushed out of business and into welfare dependence.