故事发生在美国内战结束不久之后,曾经在前线奋勇杀敌的军官基德上尉(汤姆·汉克斯 Tom Hanks 饰)如今成为了一名读报人。他辗转于一个又一个小镇,为生活在那里的居民们带来来自世界各地的最新的消息。 一天,基德在德州遇见了一个名叫乔安娜(海伦娜·泽格尔 Helena Zengel 饰)的小女孩,这个可怜的姑娘在6年前被印第安人掳走抚养,如今,重新获得了自由的她将要回到叔叔和阿姨的身边开始正常人的生活,虽然这并不是乔安娜真正想要的。基德和乔安娜之间产生了一种奇妙的联结,于是,基德答应护送乔安娜去她应该去的地方,两人要共同面对的,除了险恶的自然环境外,还有叵测的人心。Five years after the end of the Civil War, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd (Tom Hanks), a veteran of three wars, now moves from town to town as a non-fiction storyteller, sharing the news of presidents and queens, glorious feuds, devastating catastrophes, and gripping adventures from the far reaches of the globe. On the plains of Texas, he crosses paths with Johanna (Helena Zengel), a 10-year-old taken in by the Kiowa people six years earlier and raised as one of their own. Johanna, hostile to a world she's never experienced, is being returned to her biological aunt and uncle against her will. Kidd agrees to deliver the child where the law says she belongs. As they travel hundreds of miles into the unforgiving wilderness, the two will face tremendous challenges of both human and natural forces as they search for a place that either can call home.