In a place almost untouched by time and in an age still blessed by innocence, a father and his two sons struggle to make sense of their changing relationships. The Reverend Maclean is head of the family a stern man shaped by hard times in a land still largely wilderness. His sons are Norman, serious and scholarly, and Paul, a hothead with a weakness for pretty girls and gambling. They are different but devoted and on the Big Blackfoot River they are in perfect harmony, bound by a passion for fly-fishing - the gentle, sometimes mystical art that slowly comes to symbolise their hopes and fears. Told against the stunning backdrop of Montana at the turn of the century, A River Runs Through It is as absorbing as it is enchanting an authentic American masterpiece.