Robert Redford directs and narrates this tale of two brothers growing up in 1920s Montana. Norman (Craig Sheffer) is the responsible one who will later attend college, while Paul (Brad Pitt) is more reckless, staying at home and getting increasingly involved in a lifestyle of gambling and drinking. Together, they join their preacher father (Tom Skerritt) for long fly fishing sessions, but the apparent happiness of these occasions is eventually disrupted by Paul's carelessness, a carelessness which draws the film towards its tragic conclusion.