The film, adapted from a novel of the same name written by John Williams, tells the story of Andrews, a young man who dropped out of Harvard in 1873, influenced by Emerson, Thoreau and others' ideas of nature, and came to Butcher Cross with the impulse to find beauty, hope and vitality. and follow hunter Miller (Cage) and the other two (Skinner Schneider and Charlie Hogg, who does chores) into the Colorado mountains to hunt bison. Each of them embarked on this uncertain journey with different purposes and ideas. They went through many difficulties and lost a man's life before they returned to Butcher's Cross, but earth-shaking changes have taken place here.