Synopsis

After a devastating riding accident leaves teenager Grace emotionally scarred and her horse Pilgrim badly injured, Grace's mother takes them from New York to Montana. There, reclusive horse trainer Tom Booker uses patient, unconventional methods to help Pilgrim recover. As horse and girl gradually heal, Annie confronts the fractures in her own marriage, career, and sense of identity.

Factoids & Trivia

• Robert Redford acquired the screen rights to Nicholas Evans' novel before the book was published in 1995.

• The film was shot in Montana and New York between April 7 and September 19, 1997. Montana locations included Livingston, Big Timber, and Melville, while Hadley, New York, was used for parts of the accident sequence.

• Horseman Buck Brannaman served as the film's equine technical advisor. His approach to natural horsemanship helped shape the film's depiction of communication between people and troubled horses.

• This was the first film directed by Robert Redford in which he also appeared on screen. He had previously narrated his film A River Runs Through It.

• The Montana sequences were filmed near the Boulder Valley, an area also used for A River Runs Through It.

• With a reported production budget of about $60 million, the film earned approximately $186.9 million worldwide after opening in the United States on May 15, 1998.

• The film's 169-minute running time made it one of the more expansive mainstream dramas of the late 1990s. Its long Montana passages emphasize landscape, ranch work, and gradual emotional change over rapid plot development.