The story is chronologically the first of several prequels to Sheridan's Yellowstone and details how the Duttons came to own the land that became the Yellowstone Ranch. The second installment produced in the Yellowstone franchise, the series consists of ten episodes and concluded on February 27, The series follows the postβCivil War generation of the Dutton family as they leave Tennessee , journey to Fort Worth, Texas , and join a wagon train undertaking the arduous journey west to Oregon the Duttons are never on the actual Oregon Trail itself , before settling in Montana to establish what would eventually become the Yellowstone Ranch.
In a flashforward , Elsa Dutton watches in late as a group of pioneers are slaughtered by a band of Lakota on the Great Plains.
She kills one, before being surrounded. Months earlier, former Union Army captain Shea Brennan cremates his wife and daughter after they die of smallpox. His partner Thomas arrives and prevents him from committing suicide when he informs him of a Pinkerton job in Fort Worth, Texas. Shea and Thomas depart for Fort Worth and observe James Dutton kill thieves who attempt to rob his covered wagon.
Meanwhile, James' family: his wife, Margaret; year-old daughter, Elsa; 5-year-old son, John; his sister, Claire; and Claire's teenage daughter, Mary Abel, travel to Fort Worth from Tennessee via train. James continues to encounter antagonistic criminals in town, while Shea and Thomas meet with a group of inexperienced European immigrants who pay them for an escort to Oregon. In the present, Shea, James, and Thomas prepare for the journey west. Shea hires two cowboys , Wade and Ennis, to help catch and escort feral cattle.
As the wagon train departs, tensions rise between the Americans and the immigrants, as interpreter Josef struggles to keep his group in line with Shea's perceived harsh decisions. The inexperienced immigrants find themselves at the nature's mercy; namely dysentery and fatal rattlesnake bites.
