Let’s start with a quick rundown: today, Spencer and Alex’s long journey would only take a day by plane, but in 1923, commercial flights were a distant dream, and there was no airport in Bozeman, Montana. So, by boat and train, their journey should’ve taken about one month—but it didn’t. Here’s why:

First, Spencer didn’t open Cara’s letter until three months after she sent it. Then there’s the matter of them being deep in the Tujes mountains—an epic 15,000-kilometer trek. And of course, they encountered every possible catastrophe along the way.

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Their story begins in Kenya, where Spencer is hunting lions in what was then a British protectorate. It’s here that he meets Alex at the Stanley Hotel in Nairobi. Alex, fed up with her boyfriend, joins Spencer for a dangerous adventure across the savannah, a trip that nearly ends in disaster after they face down an elephant and lions. But after all that near-death, Alex proposes they head to Zanzibar to settle into a carefree life—until the letter from Cara arrives, changing everything.

From there, they head to Mombasa to book a ship to the United States, but there’s a catch. There are no direct ships from Kenya to the U.S., just one to London, and it doesn’t depart until November 11, 1923. That means they have to wait three weeks, pushing the trip even further. By October 21, 1923, they’re still in Mombasa, and they don’t arrive in Montana until March 29, 1924. That makes the entire journey last about five months and one week—crazy, right?

During this time, Spencer refuses to wait, so they end up boarding a tugboat that takes them through the Suez Canal in Egypt. Along the way, they narrowly avoid death from a ghost ship and sharks, and eventually board the RMS Mauretania for the next leg of their journey.

From Sicily, they continue to London, where their journey takes a turn when Alex’s ex-boyfriend, Arthur, challenges Spencer to a duel. Arthur ends up falling overboard and dying, causing Spencer and Alex to be separated. Spencer ends up working on a ship to Galveston, Texas, while Alex’s journey takes her to New York.

After surviving dangerous encounters in the U.S., including fighting off homeless attackers and escaping the law, Spencer heads toward Montana, with a chance encounter with Sheriff Mamie Fossett who gives him money to buy a train ticket. Meanwhile, Alex, after a horrible journey, finally makes it to New York but is detained at Ellis Island before being allowed to travel to Montana.

The couple’s paths cross again, but it’s not a happy reunion. Spencer gets to Montana first, but Alex faces a devastating fate. As Alex finally makes it to Montana, she’s brutally attacked at the train station and later dies in a hospital, leaving Spencer heartbroken.

The ending of their journey leaves us with a haunting question: what if Spencer had read Cara’s letter earlier, or waited in Mombasa for the other ship? Could Alex have survived? What if they had just taken a different route at any point? In the world of Yellowstone, we know fate is always cruel, and Taylor Sheridan certainly delivered a heartbreaking, epic journey.