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Yellowstone Family Tree & Character Guide
Getting to know the Duttons, past and present. Dive into our guide to explore the Yellowstone family tree.
The Dutton dynasty is so vast and its lore so complex, showrunner Taylor Sheridan created two spin-off series to chronicle the stories of earlier generations (1883 and 1923). Here’s a guide to Yellowstone’s immediate family tree and the intricacies of the relationships therein.
The Patriarch: John Dutton (Kevin Costner)
John Dutton has four children, but the Yellowstone Ranch is his baby. His sole motivation in life is protecting the cattle ranch — from developers, the government, and those who’d like the land for themselves. John wants his ancestors’ way of life to remain frozen in time, and this struggle becomes the central conflict within the Dutton family and the wider community. It’s especially interesting to see him interact with the Broken Rock Indian Reservation’s Thomas Rainwater, who similarly wishes his ancestors’ way of life could be protected from outsiders (like the Duttons).
The Matriarch: Evelyn Dutton (Gretchen Mol)
Based on the few glimpses viewers get of the late Evelyn Dutton through flashbacks, it’s clear she was just as tough and stoic as her husband. She died in 1997 when her horse spooked while out riding with Beth and Kayce. This event became Beth’s villain origin story, since she blames herself for her mother’s death.
Lee Dutton (Dave Annable)
Lee was the eldest Dutton child and worked as a cowboy at the Yellowstone and a Livestock Agent at the Montana Livestock Association. He was poised to take over his father’s duty of managing the ranch, but he died in Season 1 during a cattle rustling dispute with members of Broken Rock. Lee’s death was devastating to his family, raising the question of who would inherit the Yellowstone and the sacrifices that come with running it.
Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly)
Perhaps the series’ most entertaining character, Beth is the firebrand daughter of John and Evelyn. A successful businesswoman, she is rude, lewd, and more often than not drunk on premium whiskey. Beth is haunted by Evelyn’s death, and she weaponizes her grief into self-destructive (and outwardly destructive) behaviors. But for all her faults, Beth is extremely loyal to her family, whip-smart, and truly uninhibited — something her father admires: “What it must feel like to be that free… I got one child I miss, one child I pity, and one I regret. That girl, that child, I envy.”
Jamie Dutton (Wes Bentley)
Jamie is essentially the heel of the Dutton family. He’s the adopted middle son of John and Evelyn, and his whole life has been dedicated to fruitless attempts at making his father proud. At John’s instruction, Jamie attended Harvard and became a lawyer so he could protect the ranch from legal attacks. Despite his willingness to do whatever his family asks of him, Jamie is consistently treated as an outsider and is publicly disparaged by his sister Beth.
Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes)
Of all the Dutton children, Kayce is the youngest and most rebellious. Against his father’s wishes, he decided to marry Monica when they got pregnant and move onto the Broken Rock reservation, which resulted in John branding him with the infamous Yellowstone “Y” as punishment. Kayce left Montana to serve in the Navy SEALs, later returning to make a living breaking stallions on the reservation. However, the brand is an enduring symbol of his ties to the Yellowstone and his father, which causes ongoing issues with his wife.
Monica Dutton (Kelsey Asbille)
Monica grew up on the Broken Rock reservation before marrying Kayce Dutton and works as a teacher, first at a local middle school and later as a professor of American history at Montana State University. Unfortunately, most of her appearances in the series involve her enduring serious trauma; she’s in a coma, acts as bait to catch a serial killer targeting local indigenous women, miscarries her son in a car accident… the list goes on. She is an excellent mother to Tate and does everything she can to protect him from the chaos of the Duttons, even if that means sacrificing her relationship with Kayce.
Tate Dutton (Brecken Merrill)
Tate is the son of Kayce and Monica. He is often caught in the crosshairs between his father’s dedication to the Yellowstone and his mother’s aversion to the ranch’s darker elements. Tate is very close to his grandfather John Dutton, who seems to consider him the true future of the Yellowstone and the key to its ongoing survival.
Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser)
Taken under John’s wing when he was just a teen, Rip is the foreman of the Yellowstone Ranch and longtime love interest of Beth Dutton. He is unflinchingly loyal to John and the ranch, even going so far as to commit murder if it means protecting their interests. Despite his tough exterior and violent history, Rip is surprisingly patient and gentle with Beth, making their romance one of the highlights of the whole series.
Stream Season 5 of Yellowstone on Peacock.
