Kevin Costner stars in and directs the Western Open Range. Robert Duvall stars as Boss Spearman, a rugged old-timer who free-grazes cattle. He and Charley Waite (Costner) have been partners for ten years.
As the film opens in the 1880s, the pair and their employees - the beefy, rugged, likable Mose (Abraham Benrubi) and the impetuous Mexican teenager Buttons (Diego Luna) - are driving cattle across the West.
Needing supplies, Mose is sent into the nearest small town and that’s when trouble ensues. The town’s corrupt sheriff is merely the puppet of Denton Baxter, a wealthy rancher who ruthlessly sets the laws for the township. Seems the rancher is anti-freegrazing and will do anything , including commit murder, to keep those who practice that method of feeding out of his territory. Tragic events follow causing Charlie and Boss to take a stand against the rancher, the town’s lawman, and their gang of murderous thugs.