Jean Gilkyson (Jennifer Lopez) takes her daughter Griff and walks out on her abusive boyfriend (Damian Lewis). They go to Wyoming to seek shelter from Jean's father-in-law Einar (Robert Redford), who receives them coldly due to blaming Jean for his son's death in a car accident. Einar is also acting as a caregiver for his ranch hand Mitch (Morgan Freeman) after Mitch was badly injured by a bear. The bear is being kept in the town's makeshift zoo, while Einar watches it bitterly and Mitch feels sympathy for the animal.
Tropes:
- Grief-Induced Split: Einar's wife left him due to his Excessive Mourning over their son's death in a traffic accident.
- Grumpy Old Man: Einar is almost seventy and is a cold and angry person for the most part. The people around him are pretty fed up with it and constantly urge him to change, mainly in a Vitriolic Best Buds way.Mitch: You wanna know what I dreamed last night?
Einar: What?
Mitch: I dreamed you weren't such a miserable son of a bitch. - Mistaken for Gay: After several days of observing her grandfather's close bond with his invalid friend of the last forty years, Becca curiously asks if they're in a relationship. They laugh the suggestion off.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Einar was emotionally destroyed by the death of his young adult son in a car accident ten years ago. Nina the diner owner also lost her daughter when the girl drowned as a preadolescent.
- Papa Wolf: Einar contemplates killing Gary and claiming that he was defending himself against a trespasser as soon as he learns that Gary is a threat to his granddaughter.
- Someone to Remember Him By: Jean was pregnant when her husband died in a car crash, and named her daughter after him. Her father-in-law doesn't learn this until ten years later.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Einar is a widower in the original novel but in the film, his wife left him due to his Excessive Mourning for their son.
