Yellowstone season 5 ending explained: what happens to the Duttons?

Whatever the future may hold for Yellowstone (as a Yellowstone season 6/spinoff seems more and more likely), the Yellowstone season 5 ending definitely signaled the end of an era for the cable western that has become one of the most popular shows on television.

Yellowstone season 5 episode 14 began with a group of indigenous people from Rainwater’s (Gil Birmingham) reservation, led by Mo (Mo Brings Plenty), taking on a secretive mission. Kind of like their own Boston Tea Party, dumping sections of pipe that were set to be used for the pipeline on the reservation into the lake. As Mo tells Rainwater later, they won’t be found (or at least not retrievable). But that’s just a small (and honestly ultimately inconsequential) part of this massive, nearly hour and a half episode to close out Yellowstone season 5.

Read on for our full breakdown of what happened right here.

Making plans

Following the auction at the ranch, the cowboys are having a good time and making plans for what’s next. Teeter (Jen Landon) has something specific in mind, asking Travis (Taylor Sheridan) for a job in Texas, which she ultimately gets.

Beth (Kelly Reilly), meanwhile, shows Rip (Cole Hauser) a piece of land they could move to. Rip says he could make it work, which is good, because Beth already bought it. When Rip asks who then is going to run the Yellowstone, she tells him she’ll explain it all tomorrow.

However, that is put a bit on hold, as Beth gets the call that John’s body is ready for the funeral. Beth wants to have it as soon as Rip and the cowboys can dig the grave, which is that afternoon. Beth then makes calls letting the small group of people she wants to attend.

Securing the Yellowstone’s future

Rainwater and Mo arrive at Kayce’s (Luke Grimes) house, not knowing why he has invited them. Having Monica (Kelsey Asbille) and Tate (Brecken Merrill) sit in on the conversation, Kayce explains his vision from the end of Yellowstone season 4 showed him two paths, one that would save his family and one to save the ranch. He thought that choosing one would mean the end of the other, but he now realizes it meant he could only save one, but Rainwater can save the other.

Kayce points out his ancestors bought the Yellowstone land for $1.25 per acre, so that is the deal he offers Rainwater to buy the ranch from him ($1.1 million). He has two conditions, that Kayce’s family be allowed to keep the land their house sits on and that Rainwater never develop or sell the Yellowstone. Rainwater agrees.

Rainwater remembers he once threatened John that if he got the land back he would remove any evidence the Duttons had ever been there. But as generations of the Duttons are buried on the land, alongside generations of Rainwater’s people, Rainwater says they will treat all of it as sacred. They make a blood oath to symbolically seal the deal, while Mo performs a chant to commemorate the moment.

Laying John to rest

After finishing digging the grave, Rip tells Lloyd (Forrie J. Smith) about the land Beth bought, saying they have room for him if he wants. However, Lloyd decides if he can’t cowboy on the Yellowstone he’d rather not do it at all. Rip tells him their door is always open.

As everyone readies for the funeral (save for Jamie [Wes Bentley], who was unsurprisingly not invited and practices his press conference), Beth takes a few shots before speeding down to meet everyone in her car. Rainwater is there, hoping Beth doesn’t mind as he was with Kayce when she called him. She doesn’t, calling him the protector of John’s legacy now.

John’s casket is laid in the barn. Beth goes to it and with tears in her eyes tells her father they won; there may not be cows on the land moving forward, but there won’t be condos either. She says he can rest now.

At the grave, the preacher invites Beth to lay a flower on the casket and say goodbye. She has something else in mind though, whispering that she will avenge John. Others follow. Kayce forgives John; Lynelle (Wendy Moniz) wore her tightest skirt for him; Rainwater promises to protect the land; and the cowboys one by one say silent goodbyes.

Rip is the last, but instead of placing a flower he picks up a shovel, intending to be the one who fills in the grave. The preacher asks if Rip wants him to stay? Rip says they’re all good on prayer, if John isn’t in heaven by now he’s never going to be or there isn’t a heaven. When Rip finishes filling in the grave, he thanks John for everything he did for him and promises to love and take care of Beth.

Beth’s revenge

Rip has his hands full immediately on that promise, as Beth is not waiting to enact her revenge. She speeds off from the ranch, and while it takes a little bit for Rip to figure out where she is going, he eventually puts it together. He brings Lloyd along as they drive after her. He calls her on the way, trying to convince her to pull over, but Beth is determined, saying she made a promise to avenge her father and she is going to keep it. We all can guess what that means.

After Jamie’s (Wes Bentley) press conference that is widely praised, he heads home on a high. However, Beth is waiting for him. She sprays him with bear spray and beats him, though Jamie fights back. During the fight, Jamie taunts Beth that he is going to set her up for the murders of John and Sarah, then turn the ranch into a resort. But Beth fills him in that they’ve already sold the ranch, meaning Jamie’s plans are ruined. He manages to get his hands around her throat and starts to choke her, but before he can kill her Rip arrives, pulls him off and starts throwing him around the room. Beth tells Rip to hold Jamie, which allows her to stab him in the chest. She makes sure the last thing Jamie sees before he dies is her face. Beth tells Rip to take Jamie’s body to the train station (he also torches Jamie’s car to get rid of any evidence), while Beth calls 9-1-1.

As she is being treated by medics, the detective (Rory Cochrane) working John’s case comes to check out the scene. Another officer tells him Beth gave a statement that she confronted Jamie about not showing up to John’s funeral and her belief he was involved in John’s death. Jamie then knocked her unconscious and when she came to he was gone. The detective asks Beth directly about her accusation of Jamie being involved with John’s death. She tells him to follow the money, which should show that Sarah paid for the killers, but Jamie ordered it. The detective admits he felt Jamie had something to hide. Sure enough, the story soon becomes how Jamie was involved in the crimes from this second half of the season.

A vision realized

Rainwater and Kayce go over the official contract for the Yellowstone deal. Kayce makes sure there’s a section specifically saying the Yellowstone won’t be developed. It goes one better, with the clause saying the Yellowstone can only be traveled on by horse or by foot. Kayce signs, and Rainwater congratulates him for making the worst land deal since his people sold Manhattan. But unlike Manhattan, the Yellowstone will never change.

Kayce heads outside, with a tear of relief streaming down his face. He tells Monica he’s free — free from the ranch and free from the need to be livestock commissioner. They see a wolf outside their fence digging. Mo arrives, saying the wolf is building a den, making a home for himself. Monica jokes she won’t be able to have a chicken coop now, but Mo points out that the wolf isn’t real, it’s part of Kayce’s vision. Mo can see it though because they now share that vision.

Elsewhere, Teeter goes to work for Travis. Also, Ryan (Ian Bohen) finds Abby (Lainey Wilson), telling her he made a mistake not picking her, but he does now; she accepts and they get back together.

A promise seven generations in the making

Rip, Kayce and Beth go through the emptied barn and house. Beth asks if Kayce wants anything, but he says no. She says she’ll keep it in storage in case Tate wants to know more about their story in the future, noting it’s one worth remembering.

As Kayce drives off, Rip and Lloyd are lowering the Yellowstone ranch sign. Rip asks if Kayce wants it? He says no, he’ll create his own brand for his ranch. He gets started on that as he and Tate go to an auction and get their first head of cattle.

The members of the reservation then arrive on the ranch, and begin to deconstruct it so it meets their purposes. Rainwater is brought to tears by the moment. Mo finds a bunch of kids pushing over the Duttons’ tombstones. He tells them to stop, telling them the Duttons protected and died for the land, so their remains will stay untouched. He picks up the tombstones, from Elsa Dutton to John Dutton.

We then hear Elsa Dutton (Isabel May) narrate, as she details the promise her father made that after seven generations the land would return to the indigenous people (which we reminded you about in our Yellowstone ending prediction). She adds: “Raw land, wild land, free land can never be owned. But some men pay dearly for the privilege of its stewardship, they will suffer and sacrifice to live off it and live with it, and hopefully teach the next generation to do the same. And if they falter, find another willing to keep the promise.”

As for the living Duttons, Kayce, Monica and Tate realize their dream and operate a ranch of their own as a family. As for Beth, she and Rip oversee their new land, which is far away from any tourists. As Rip finishes up for the day Beth tells him there’s a bar with a hitching post outside that they can ride up to. He says he’ll saddle their horse to head out.

And that’s a wrap on Yellowstone season 5. The finale was definitely satisfying and felt right for many of the characters. But looking out over the whole season, it definitely felt like a mess. After a meandering first half, the second half took a while to get going and then still forgot or featured underdeveloped plot lines (what happened to the idea of John’s old assistant leaking stuff to the press; the pipeline storyline was completely underwritten; even Jamie felt sidelined for most of these last six episodes). It was likely all a little rushed because of Kevin Costner’s exit, but it does feel like the show found its natural and destined conclusion.

The first four and a half seasons of Yellowstone are available to stream on Peacock (these episodes will hit there eventually) in the US; the show streams on Paramount Plus in the UK.