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Yellowstone Family Tree and 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, Yellowstone showrunner Taylor Sheridan created two spin-off series to chronicle the stories of earlier generations (1883 and 1923). But before you dive into Yellowstone’s expansive universe, which you can do by catching up on every episode from Season 1 to Season 5 Part 1 on Peacock, learn who the main players are (or simply refresh your memory) on the epic Western.
Here’s a comprehensive guide to Yellowstone’s 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 homestead — from developers, the government, and those who would 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. The traumatic 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 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 the Dutton family, raising the question of who would inherit 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 often drunk on premium whiskey. Beth is haunted by her mother'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 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 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 moved 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 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 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 storylines 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. Monica is an excellent mother to Tate and does everything she can to protect him from the Dutton chaos, even if that means sacrificing aspects of 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 dark underbelly. Tate is close to his grandfather, John Dutton, who considers him the true future of the ranch 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 of Yellowstone and Beth’s longtime love interest. 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.
Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham)
As the leader of the Confederated Tribes of Broken Rock, Chief Rainwater – who also owns several casinos near Yellowstone – often faces off against John in a clash over the land the ranch sits on. Rainwater’s biggest motivation is to reclaim the land his ancestors lost and restore the reservation to how it was before the Duttons arrived decades earlier. It’s a tense push and pull between Rainwater and John, since the chief has made it known he will do everything in his power to see his mission through.
Dan Jenkins (Danny Huston)
Dan began as one of John’s main enemies in Season 1. One of many foes the Dutton patriarch had to fend off, the Paradise Valley land developer and billionaire was dead set on building a casino close to the Yellowstone ranch to make more money – much to the chagrin of the Dutton family. Though he eventually turned into an unlikely ally in Season 2, Dan doesn’t last beyond that in the cutthroat world of Yellowstone.
Teeter (Jennifer Landon)
Hired as a ranch hand by Rip in Season 3, the Texas-bred Teeter is pretty much considered one of the guys. Unfiltered, fun, and isn’t about to take anyone’s nonsense (a strength in this dog-eat-dog world), Teeter can hold her own – and then some. Swearing? No problem. Fighting? Tell her when and where. Though her time at Yellowstone is rocky to say the least (she’s fired at one point but later rehired), Teeter begins a roller-coaster romance with fellow ranch hand Colby.
Stream Yellowstone on Peacock.
