The Great Alone: plot and everything we know about the movie adaptation of Kristin Hannah's famous novel

The Great Alone is one of the best novels by award-winning US author Kristin Hannah and it's set to be made into an emotional movie. It follows a troubled family hoping to start over in a remote outpost in Alaska. Kristin Hannah, whose previous novels The Nightingale and The Women are also being adapted into movies, while her novel Firefly Lane was a hit series on Netflix.

The movie version of The Great Alone will follow Ernt Allbright, a Vietnam veteran, violent alcoholic and former prisoner of war, who moves his family to a small Alaskan outpost called Kaneq after failing to hold down jobs elsewhere.

In the depths of winter, every day in Kaneq is a struggle for survival because as each winter season approaches, Ernt’s violent temper re-emerges, leaving his wife Cora and teenage daughter Leni fearing for their own safety.

Here's everything we know about The Great Alone movie…

The Great Alone movie release date

It’s too early for a release date for The Great Alone movie at present but we’ll update this page as soon as we hear when it will arrive in cinemas in both the UK and the US.

We’ll also let you know if and when the movie is available on a streaming service such as Netflix, Hulu, Disney Plus or Prime Video.

Is there a trailer?

No, not yet. But as soon as The Great Alone trailer is ready we'll post here.

The Great Alone movie plot

Starting in the 1970s, The Great Alone movie should follow a similar story as the novel. It's told through 13-year-old Leni Allbright, whose father Ernt Allbright returns home from the Vietnam War a changed man with violent tendencies.

Leni is caught in the crossfire of her parents’ passionate but volatile marriage and hopes that when they move to Alaska to live off-grid it marks the start of a new life for her family.

In the wilds of Alaska, Leni, Ernt and her mother Cora find a welcoming community of strong men and even stronger women who take them under their wing and help them prepare for winter, where survival is a struggle. But as winter approaches, Ernt’s fragile mental health deteriorates and the threat from inside the Allbright home is even more dangerous than the perils they face from living in America’s last true frontier.

The Great Alone movie cast

The Great Alone has yet to be cast but we’re sure that given the success of the novel, it will attract big-name stars. We’ll update this page as soon as casting is announced.

Kristin Hannah on the movie adaptation of The Great Alone

Shortly after her novel The Great Alone was released, Kristin Hannah admitted she would love to see it brought to life as a movie. She said: “Like The Nightingale, it’s a story about the strength of women and survival and the choices that define a life. Set in remote Alaska in the 1970s, it reveals the harsh, cruel beauty of the Last Frontier and the fiercely independent men and women who live there. It’s a world I’ve never seen on screen, and it’s surprisingly relevant in today’s turbulent, unsettled world. I think it could be made into a gorgeous and powerful film,” she said.

All About The Great Alone author Kristin Hannah

To date, award-winning author Kristin Hannah has written over 20 bestselling novels, including The Nightingale, The Four Winds and Firefly Lane, which was adapted into a Netflix series starring Katherine Heigl and Sarah Chalke. At the same time, The Nightingale, which tells of two sisters fighting for survival in Nazi-occupied France, is currently being made into a film starring Elle and Dakota Fanning.

Kristin’s novel The Women, which follows nurse Frances McGrath as she serves in the Army Nurse Corps during the Vietnam War, is also being made into a film. Other novels by Kristin include Winter Garden, Home Front, Wild and Night Road.