Yellowstone 1883 and 1923 - A Yellowstone Origin Story (Blu-ray)

1883​
1883 tells the arduous westward journey of the Dutton family. James Dutton (Tim McGraw) and his wife Margaret (Faith Hill), originally from Tennessee, lead their family to set out from Fort Worth, Texas, with the plan to settle in Oregon. Cowboy Shea Brennan (Sam Elliott) is hired to lead the group. Grief-stricken by the deaths of his wife and daughter from smallpox, Shea has a death wish. Along the way, they join forces with a group of European immigrants.​ Tragedies occur frequently during the journey. The group is attacked by bandits, resulting in the death of James' niece, Mary Abel, after which her mother, Claire, commits suicide. Ennis, the cowboy that Elsa (Isabel May) falls in love with, also meets a tragic end. When the group passes through the Comanche territory, Elsa meets and falls in love with Sam, a young Comanche man. However, later, the Lakota tribe attacks the group because one of their tribesmen is killed (though not by the Duttons or the immigrants), and Elsa is shot by an arrow. Realizing that her time is running out, Elsa dies in her father's arms and is buried in a valley in Montana. Eventually, the Dutton family decides to settle in this valley, which later becomes the Yellowstone Ranch.​

1923​
1923 continues the story right after 1883. Elsa starts the series with a voice-over, recounting the changes in the Dutton family since 1883. James dies ten years after Elsa's passing. Margaret sends a letter to James' brother, Jacob, for help. By the time Jacob arrives, Margaret has already frozen to death, and he saves her two starving children.​ At the beginning of the story, the elderly Jacob Dutton (Harrison Ford) and his wife Cara (Helen Mirren) become the protectors of the ranch. They adopt John and Spencer, the surviving children of James and Margaret. At this time, the Dutton family faces numerous challenges, such as severe drought, Prohibition, the Great Depression, and rampant cattle rustling. Against the backdrop of the rise of mechanization, the development of local governments, and resource competition from other ranchers, Jacob and Cara lead the family to forge ahead through hardships.​